Why did Santorum single out black people..........

[Lincoln Republican]

..........when talking about cutting government aid?

Rick Santorum

Quote: "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money; I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money." (Campaign stop in Iowa, Jan. 2, 2012)

"This is the sort of subtle racism" that should, but won't, harm Santorum among Republicans, says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. Why did he single out black people when talking about cutting government aid?

[Torie]

Maybe it was in the context of some question about the well being of black people. What was the context?

[Pyro]

Because he's bad at disguising his racism?

[Hash]

He's a Republican.

[Sbane]

What was the full context of the quote?

[Torie]

..........when talking about cutting government aid?

Rick Santorum

Quote: "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money; I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money." (Campaign stop in Iowa, Jan. 2, 2012)

"This is the sort of subtle racism" that should, but won't, harm Santorum among Republicans, says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. Why did he single out black people when talking about cutting government aid?

How did you become aware of this rather dated Jan 2 quote?  Is it just making the rounds now of Romney friendly sites or was in some blast email or something?  

I think it generally good form to post a link when quoting someone like this, so folks can vet the source - and the context.

[Lincoln Republican]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/03/396428/santorums-racist-welfare-rant/?mobile=nc

Here is a link to a good article putting the quote in context.

I know it is not a new story, it dates from early Jan/12, but the article from the Washington Monthly does raise a valid question.

[Torie]

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/03/396428/santorums-racist-welfare-rant/?mobile=nc

Here is a link to a good article putting the quote in context.

I know it is not a new story, it dates from early Jan/12, but the article from the Washington Monthly does raise a valid question.

It sounds like Rick was responding to a question, which question is not included in the sound bite to which you linked. So we still don't have the context. It would be odd if Rick just started chatting about black people out of the blue, when Iowa has next to no black people, and Iowa Pubs I  suspect don't think about black people much as it were - out of sight, out of mind.

[Sbane]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnjEYcT6n-s&feature=related

Santorum denies saying Black people. I guess people can make up their own mind. I must say though that there is a problem with some conservatives who automatically associate welfare or food stamps with Blacks. As if they are only being handed out to them rather than being handed out based on income under which Blacks do qualify at a greater rate. Even then most welfare recipients are white, and way more if you include things like farm aid or unnecessary military bases.

[Likely Voter]

There was no context about black people, he injected it on his own. First Rick defended saying "black people" by saying it was about recently watching the film "Waiting for Superman". Later he claimed he never said "black people" but really said "blah people".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyz0eqjRrUI

this was thoroughly discussed here on the Atlas at the time.

[Lincoln Republican]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/rick-santorum-singles-out-black-people-at-iowa-event/2012/01/03/gIQAAn1JYP_blog.html

Another link.

[BigSkyBob]

He never said it.

See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCB_yrWz5x4

[Torie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnjEYcT6n-s&feature=related

Santorum denies saying Black people. I guess people can make up their own mind. I must say though that there is a problem with some conservatives who automatically associate welfare or food stamps with Blacks. As if they are only being handed out to them rather than being handed out based on income under which Blacks do qualify at a greater rate. Even then most welfare recipients are white, and way more if you include things like farm aid or unnecessary military bases.

Rick clearly said black if you listen to Winfield's clip sbane. It may be right after he said most of the word, he realized it was a mistake, and chopped off some of the "k" sound at the end, but I don't think so. I guess that is where the "blah people" thing came from. Rick said something that sounded like black, but he said he didn't, but if he didn't say "black," what other word could possibly be inserted there that would make any sense at all?  I guess the answer is "blah."  Rick can spin with the best of them clearly. Maybe that is why he is the un-Mitt survivor.

I still would like to listen to what come before. Pity it isn't available.

[Torie]

There was no context about black people, he injected it on his own. First Rick defended saying "black people" by saying it was about recently watching the film "Waiting for Superman". Later he claimed he never said "black people" but really said "blah people".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyz0eqjRrUI

this was thoroughly discussed here on the Atlas at the time.

Rick claims he actually said "blah people?"  I find that very difficult to believe.

[Torie]

He never said it.

See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCB_yrWz5x4

I saw it. He did.  Someone commented that maybe he meant "blind people."  If so, that is really bad. The only thing worse than demeaning black people, is to diss the blind.

Anyway, I kind of like my theory that Rick realized he got off track after starting to say the black word, and so truncated the "k" sound a bit.

Thanks for finding a link so that we can hear what went before. And yes, Rick indeed got to blah, black or blind all on his own steam. Amazing really. Sbane is right. Handouts go mostly to the connected. That is why they hang around with K street types so much, and write big checks. Follow the money. By the way, for my 1/6 interest in an Iowa farm, I got about $5,000 last year in flat out government subsidies, in the form of cash, dished out in dribs and drabs by a host of assorted and sundry FSA bureaucrats who must have spent hours calculating it all. God bless America!

[Keystone Phil]

LOL @ Winfield digging this one up.

Wow. Santorum really might have this thing...

[BigSkyBob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnjEYcT6n-s&feature=related

Santorum denies saying Black people. I guess people can make up their own mind. I must say though that there is a problem with some conservatives who automatically associate welfare or food stamps with Blacks. As if they are only being handed out to them rather than being handed out based on income under which Blacks do qualify at a greater rate. Even then most welfare recipients are white, and way more if you include things like farm aid or unnecessary military bases.

Rick clearly said black if you listen to Winfield's clip sbane. It may be right after he said most of the word, he realized it was a mistake, and chopped off some of the "k" sound at the end, but I don't think so. I guess that is where the "blah people" thing came from. Rick said something that sounded like black, but he said he didn't, but if he didn't say "black," what other word could possibly be inserted there that would make any sense at all?  I guess the answer is "blah."  Rick can spin with the best of them clearly. Maybe that is why he is the un-Mitt survivor.

I still would like to listen to what come before. Pity it isn't available.

If he "chopped off the "'k' sound" then he said "bla[h]." 

"Bla[h]" is "bla[h]" and "black" is "black."

Either he said "blah" or he said "black," but, he simply didn't say both.

I would note the conspiracy aspect of your saying, " It may be right after he said most of the word, he realized it was a mistake..." Another intrepretation is that he corrected his speech to his intended meaning.

[Lincoln Republican]

I cannot figure out for the life of me what is hard to believe about that.

I am sure we all know lots of blah people.  Some of my best friends are blah people.  As a matter of fact, there is a huge blah community about an hour from my home.

Once a week they meet at the Blah Community building where they get together to discuss  blah issues.

Interestingly enough, I met just last week with the President of the blah community association, and he expressed to me his personal outrage at what he called Santorum's slight to the entire blah community.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[Torie]

Why would anyone use the term "blah people" when talking about handouts?  That makes zero sense, and is kind of nasty in and of itself. It sounds dehumanizing. Again, is Rick himself claiming he said, and meant to say, "blah people?"  I would like to know the answer to that question, because if he is, in my opinion, he's doubling down on well, to put it euphemistically, an act of deception.

[ajb]

If I were poor, I'd be kind of offended by being described as a "blah person."
I mean, I really don't know what that could possibly mean, but it sounds kind of patronizing.

[Likely Voter]

my bet is that he started to say black people and half way through it his braid said "Rick, do you see the camera? STOP NOW" but he couldn't stop it by that point

[Lincoln Republican]

LOL @ Winfield digging this one up.

Wow. Santorum really might have this thing...

Well, that is a possibility, given the apparent ideological lunacy of the Republican primary base.

With Obama's approvals shooting up, with jobs being created, with the economy steadily moving in an upward direction, with Santorum driving away women, ethnics, independents, moderates by the millions, I can sit back, relax, and laugh as Santorum gets his sorry butt kicked from one end of the country to the other by Obama, while Obama sails to a massive electoral victory in November.

Then we won't have Romney to blame.  Saint Rick can take the blame for the Republican devastation in November for the defeat in the Presidential election, and for the rout of Republicans down ballot and at the state level.

[BigSkyBob]

He never said it.

See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCB_yrWz5x4

I saw it. He did.  Someone commented that maybe he meant "blind people."  If so, that is really bad. The only thing worse than demeaning black people, is to diss the blind.

Anyway, I kind of like my theory that Rick realized he got off track after starting to say the black word, and so truncated the "k" sound a bit.

Well, I don't put much credence in the "blind" hypothesis. I consider the notion that there was "a bit" of  "truncated k" right there with the notion that Neil Armstrong actually said, "One step for a man, one giant leap for mankind!"

Since when in America are people whom correct a sentence in mid-sentence, or mid-word judged as if they had completed the sentence, or completed the word? When Bill Clinton said,"I didn't have sex with that woman, [audible pause, change of intonation] Miss Lewinski," noone jumped him for using slut language.

[Sbane]

Yeah he said black people or blind people. You make up your mind.

[Torie]

Yeah he said black people or blind people. You make up your mind.

The Cooper clip is pretty devastating. Anyway, Rick ended up claiming he meant to say another word, but then tacked in mid thought ala the Torie theory, except that unlike the Torie theory, the allegedly uncompleted and abandoned word was not "black", but some other word, which word Rick does not specify, presumably because well, Rick claims he doesn't remember saying any of it at all, and nobody in the audience heard "black" either (how would Rick know?), so case closed!  

Rick gets 10 points for conflating black people with what drives, and ails flow from,  the entitlement society, and another 30 infraction points for dishonesty. Hey Rick, AFDC welfare reform (that was what was viewed back then as an especially acute "black" problem) was passed under Clinton. You surely remember that, don't you Rick, since you claim credit for doing it as a key player, just like Newt was with the Reagan revolution?