From the any publicity is good publicity department, this weekend SNL's Seth Meyers lumped Rick Santorum in with fellow GOP presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney . . . while dismissing the GOP field.

In a bit about Donald Trump's birther comments on Obama, the Weekend Update host said "with this GOP field, Trump actually seems like a viable candidate, and conversely all the candidates remind me of contestants on Celebrity Apprentice." He knocked Gingrich and Romney, comparing them to contestants on Trump's reality show, then said this about RS:

"Rick Santorum, this week you said that the reason Social Security's insolvent is America has aborted one-third of its children. Everything out of your mouth makes me say 'What?!'. You're Lil Jon, and you're fired."

(Need an explainer? Educational video at the end of this post.)

One last thing: the ex Pa Senator defended his holy Trinity of early primary states (Iowa, NH, SC) -- which are being challenged by the Florida GOP -- in a talk with South Carolina reporters. From Carolina Live:

"I think that the RNC has the right to determine the order of the primaries its a nomination for the Republican party no one state should be able to say naw, I'm going to disagree with the Republican party I'm going to do what I want to do," he said. "The Republican party sets the rules. I love the people in the state of Florida. Florida is obviously a critically important state. It's going to be an early primary wether they try to move up or not. It's going to be the first major state primary, and it's certainly a state that gets a lot of attention in the general election."

And now for that SNL explainer: