I linked to this Think Progress piece yesterday regarding Newtie's desire to head over to the NAACP and lecture them about how they need to have higher standards (pay checks, not food stamps). Embedded within that same article is a link to another recent example of the continued conservative outreach to minorities, this one from professional homophobe and proud American Taliban member Rick Santorum:
At a campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa on Sunday, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum singled out blacks as being recipients of assistance through federal benefit programs, telling a mostly-white audience he doesn’t want to “make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”
[...]
It is unclear why Santorum pinpointed blacks specifically as recipients of federal aid. The original questioner asked “how do we get off this crazy train? We’ve got so much foreign influence in this country now,” adding “where do we go from here?”
Asshole white Republican says overtly racist thing. Yes, we have seen this story thousands of times before. No point in questioning the motive - this is what they really believe. It is their world view, their ideology, it is part of their repulsive character (not to mention their base usually loves it and feels the same way). But what makes this story unique is what is likely the most pathetic attempt of a walk-back in modern political history (via Balloon Juice):
Santorum allegedly made the controversial comments when discussing welfare in an interview Wednesday night with Fox News, but he maintained that people misheard the word "black" when he stumbled on a word.
“I looked at that, and I didn't say that. If you look at it, what I started to say is a word and then sort of changed and it sort of — blah — came out. And people said I said ‘black.’ I didn't," Santorum said.
“And I can tell you, I don't use — I don't — first off, I don't use the term ‘black’ very often. I use the term ‘African-American’ more than I use ‘black' ... I think sometimes you want to give someone the benefit of the doubt if it's a little bit of a blurred word."
Yeah, come on! You know, all of those 'blah' people on welfare! Get your facts straight, liberal media!
He may as well have pulled one of these:
The way these assholes spew this bile and then react to it when people rightly are offended and call them on their bull shit is just indicative of what I said earlier in this post - this is REALLY what they believe. This is REALLY how they feel. It is who they are. Full stop. Otherwise they wouldn't let it roll off of their lips so blithely. If Santorum honestly felt this statement was offensive, he wouldn't have made it in the first place. But he doesn't see that it's racist (not to mention patently false), and he doesn't think it's offensive, so he said it.
And bear in mind that a good 45-49% of the country will vote for the party that puts these disgusting pigs up for their nomination. We've got a long way to go, America.
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