Santorum said "blah people" not "black people". Now it makes sense!

[TJ in Oregon]

For me, the bigger point is that it wouldn't take much of a logical leap to believe that Santorum said "black people".  He may not have a racist bone in his body, but he has such capacity for bigotry that it's almost inevitable that it would be inferred.

Says someone without a clue about the work Santorum had done in the black community. His haters are so desperate that they feel the need to cling to this even after it has been debunked? Wow.

I don't personally believe it about him.  That said, I'm not going to defend him, either, because I find him a repugnant person unworthy of defenders.

So, no matter what is said about him and how wrong it might be, you will never defend him on anything because you consider him repugnant?

Yes.

Okay, glad we cleared that up so I will no longer need to bother paying attention to whatever you post.

[Ⓐnarchy in the ☭☭☭P!]

For me, the bigger point is that it wouldn't take much of a logical leap to believe that Santorum said "black people".  He may not have a racist bone in his body, but he has such capacity for bigotry that it's almost inevitable that it would be inferred.

Says someone without a clue about the work Santorum had done in the black community. His haters are so desperate that they feel the need to cling to this even after it has been debunked? Wow.

Oh the irony

[TheGlobalizer]

For me, the bigger point is that it wouldn't take much of a logical leap to believe that Santorum said "black people".  He may not have a racist bone in his body, but he has such capacity for bigotry that it's almost inevitable that it would be inferred.

Says someone without a clue about the work Santorum had done in the black community. His haters are so desperate that they feel the need to cling to this even after it has been debunked? Wow.

I don't personally believe it about him.  That said, I'm not going to defend him, either, because I find him a repugnant person unworthy of defenders.

So, no matter what is said about him and how wrong it might be, you will never defend him on anything because you consider him repugnant?

Yes.

Okay, glad we cleared that up so I will no longer need to bother paying attention to whatever you post.

I'll caveat it - if he was accused of something, and persecuted in such a way that it would undermine innocents (e.g., the rule of law, abuse of process, etc.) then I would defend the innocents/rule of law/process and by way of that, might defend Santorum by necessity.

I cannot come up with a hypothetical that involves me defending "poor Mr. Santorum".

[Lincoln Republican]

I do not believe for a moment that Santorum is racist at all.

Whether one supports gay marriage or not, I believe that Santorum's stand opposing same sex marriage is to be respected as courageous and consistent on his part.

But if he did not say black people, what on earth does he mean by blah people?

[Lincoln Republican]

I do not believe for a moment that Santorum is racist at all.

Whether one supports gay marriage or not, I believe that Santorum's stand opposing same sex marriage is to be respected as courageous and consistent on his part.

But if he did not say black people, what on earth does he mean by blah people?

I guess only Santorum himself knows, since he's the one who said it.

[Simfan34]

Santorum does in fact have, shall we say, fraught relationships with several different groups in our society, so The Globalizer is right in that it doesn't, perhaps, require a tremendous leap of logic, but it's still unfair, because from what I know of Santorum this really doesn't include racism. I can believe that he got tongue-tied at basically the worst conceivable moment, but it's still somewhat problematic that he's capable of being opened up to this kind of question being asked.

If you want to go by that logic, anyone with an R after their name can routinely be accused of racism and people will automatically believe it.

And that's why 95% of blacks vote Democrat!

[Jacobtm]

Ridiculous, he definitely said ''black people''. He was speaking pretty clearly and fluently, not stumbling.

[ilikeverin]

Ridiculous, he definitely said ''black people''. He was speaking pretty clearly and fluently, not stumbling.

No, not right around when he said [blæ] people.  To complicate matters, before [p] (or any other stop) would be an environment where one would expect the [k] in "black" to disappear, as stop sequences are disfavored in casual speech (e.g., "pas' tense" for past tense), so it's entirely possible he meant to say "black people" but it came out as "blah people".  We'll basically never be able to determine his "original intent".

[7,052,770]

Is "blah people" even a term?  Has anyone ever heard anyone say that?  I certainly haven't.


Also, does Santorum seriously pronounce "blah" with a short a sound at the end rather than an "ah" sound?  He must, if his story is true.  Who says "blah" like that?  Is it a Pennsylvania accent quirk?

[CaDan]

It was obviously a verbal tick.

There was no context for Santorum to say "black people". It wouldn't have even made sense.

CBS lied. Marxists and Fascists on the internet spun the lie and hear what they want to hear.

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/03/did-santorum-really-say-he-didnt-want-to-make-black-peoples-lives-better/

[Simfan34]

Sounds more like bliy, blight, blithe, or bly. It doesn't sound like "black" at all.

[The_Texas_Libertarian]

This reminds me of when Gingrich said something along the lines of "Any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood" when he was torn to shreds by the conservative base after he said he didn't like social engineering from the left or right on  Meet the Press

[Lincoln Republican]

Some of my best friends are blah people. 

I am sure we all know some blah people.

I myself talk with at least five blah people every day.

In fact, just this morning, I had six blah people over for brunch and we had a very enlightning conversation about Rick Santorum and his relationship with the blah community.

One of them told me that their neighbor's daughter, who is not blah, was engaged to a blah man, but her parents were against it, so the girl broke off the engagement, and it caused a great conflict between the girl and her blah friends.

Tomorrow I will be meeting with a couple of blah friends of mine over lunch.  I intend to ask them if they will be supporting Santorum this year, in light of Santorum's recent statement about blah people.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

   

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Santorum does in fact have, shall we say, fraught relationships with several different groups in our society, so The Globalizer is right in that it doesn't, perhaps, require a tremendous leap of logic, but it's still unfair, because from what I know of Santorum this really doesn't include racism. I can believe that he got tongue-tied at basically the worst conceivable moment, but it's still somewhat problematic that he's capable of being opened up to this kind of question being asked.

If you want to go by that logic, anyone with an R after their name can routinely be accused of racism and people will automatically believe it.

Yes, and this in fact happens. It's not always or even usually fair, at all, but it happens.

[RosettaStoned]

 So what? The last time I checked, "black" wasn't a racist term.

[Joe Republic]

So what? The last time I checked, "black" wasn't a racist term.

... That part wasn't what made his comments racist.