Bad Romance? Pawlenty Admits He Likes 'Talented' Pro-Gay Singer Lady Gaga

Considering America's enormous debt ($14,400,378,763,707 as of 1:35 p.m. Eastern), an immigration debate that's doing anything but simmering, a debt ceiling that's about to be obliterated and numerous wars, one would assume that Lady Gaga would be the last point of discussion for presidential contenders (okay, maybe that's a little harsh -- politicians are people too, right?).

Yet, today, in Iowa, Republican presidential hopeful T-Paw (also known as Tim Pawlenty) shared his love for the raunchy (not to mention controversial) pop princess. According to The Washington Post, in a video interview with the entertainment web site Glittarazzi, he said:

"Well you know, in terms of the beat, I like ‘Bad Romance. I gotta say, even though she’s a little unusual, ‘Born this Way’ has some appeal. She’s actually very talented. Now if you go to the end of the HBO special, the Lady Gaga HBO special, and you watch her sing a cappella “Born This Way,” she can sing. She can definitely sing. She’s talented.'

Watch his interview with Glittarazzi, below:

Just to backtrack a bit -- he's seen the entire HBO special? Lady Gaga's take on gay marriage, among other subjects, pits the politician against the songstress (legislatively, anyway). Below, you can watch the video for "Born this Way," a controversial song that The Blaze covered earlier this year:

(Content Warning: Sexually Explicit)

And let's not forget her faith-offending hit, "Judas":

Perhaps most curiously, in defending his liking for Gaga, Pawlenty said:

"If you had to limit your artistic choices to just conservatives, we wouldn't have a lot of choices..."

The Post also notes that it was Pawlenty and not the interviewers who brought the pop singer up in the first place:

It wouldn’t be a presidential campaign without probing questions from the likes of MTV about inappropriate things like undergarments. But this week, the question came from the candidate himself — former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty — who turned the tables on a team of pop-culture bloggers in Ames, Iowa, by asking them to name their favorite Lady Gaga song.

There's certainly no problem with politicians bringing up the artists they listen to. But, for a candidate running for the presidency and hoping to win the Republican ticket, why Pawlenty would invoke the name of a woman who, by her very nature, offends millions of conservatives is perplexing.