Consensus on “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money"

[Texas Lawyer]

Santorum is reported to have said, in a discussion about welfare, “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.”

Then Santorum went on Bill O’Reilly's mocumentary and claimed “I didn’t say that.”

Some media are reporting that the videotape is unclear, but to me it sounds like Santorum is a racist AND A LIAR because it sounds like he said exactly what he is now denying having said.

Here's a link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/03/rick-santorum-entitlements-black-people_n_1181212.html

What's the consensus -- is Santorum lying or is his denial plausible?

[limpyhobbler]

1. it sounded pretty clear to me on the video.

[deutsey]

8. Yeah, I'm not sure what the issue is here

He clearly says "black people."

Sounds to me like he let that slip out because before he was talking about not wanting "more and more of you" (the group of mostly white people he's addressing) "dependent on them" (the government) "so they can get your vote."

Then he shifts into "I don't want to make black people's lives better etc."

[Kingofalldems]

2. He said it very clearly.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. he is a dumbass lying racist.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

4. He CLEARLY said "black"! There is NOTHING in that video that I would even

question him not saying. The Corporate Media is covering for this lying, hypocrite of an asshole!!

[LuvNewcastle]

5. That's what RWers do.

They lie, either by denying the truth or by making up their own 'truth.' The closest they get to telling the truth is when they tell a half-truth.

[tularetom]

6. Of course he's lying, that's to be expected

The worst part of the whole episode is that not one representative of the liberal media has called him a liar, or even seriously questioned him about what he clearly said.

[Texas Lawyer]

31. I wonder if the false denial has more potential to hurt him with Repubs than the racist statement

[Fuzz]

7. I don't hear it, sorry. I think he tried to say 'lives' before 'people's'.

And I can't stand the creepy dude.

[Texas Lawyer]

10. Don't apologize; that's why I asked. There are Democratic commentators who are cutting Santorum

slack because they think the tape is unclear, and Republican commentators who think he clearly said "black."

Because it seems clear to me, I was just looking for other people's take on the videotape.

[uponit7771]

25. wow, don't apologize for the guy it's obvious what he said and he didn't say 'blah' like he's report

...reporting now

[Quantess]

9. He said "black people" very clearly!

He probably hadn't planned before the speech to specifically mention a race, but to him it felt right to say "black people" at that place and time.

[Capitalocracy]

11. I'm a transcriptionist, and I think he didn't actually say that. BUT...

I usually don't like the term, but it kind of sounds like maybe a bit of a Freudian slip. I think he was about to say "your lives", realized you're not supposed to say it like that (welfare is for Other People), and it turned into something else. But it sounds like he might have been thinking black, because the word definitely turned into black.

[Texas Lawyer]

13. When you say "I think he didn't actually say that" but "the word definitely turned into black," do

you mean that he didn't mean to say "black" but did say "black"?

The part where he sorta pauses -- I actually thought he was looking around to assess the ethnicity of his audience.

[Capitalocracy]

16. I mean I think he didn't mean to say black

but it might have turned into black, more or less. The stuff that comes out of people's mouths is often much less deliberate and less defined than we think.

[noiretextatique]

28. yep...he meant to say "blah people" as he claims

he meant to say "black people" and he said "black people." he tried to catch himself, but it was too late. this bs story about "blah people" is really pathetic. he should have admitted he said what he said. it wouldn't surprise anyone that a GOP candidate was pandering to racism.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Without going to that link

He said it - I heard it. I've now seen him say it 5 times on major media outlets. He said it - and he needs to own it.

[arbusto_baboso]

14. He is a lying racist. period.

[pnwest]

15. I think he actually did say "bleurgh". He started to

say "black", caught himself and tried to pull it back as it was coming out if his mouth. FAIL.

[SaintPete]

18. yeah, thats most likely

the word starts out as "blaaa" and ends up somewhere completely different.

[RZM]

19. I think that's the most likely explanation

He's an experienced public speaker. I doubt he tosses around the phrase 'bleorgh people' on purpose. That just makes no sense. I think you're right that he realized his mistake a split second after it was too late.

[Texas Lawyer]

27. He told O'Liar "I started to say is a word and then sort of changed and it sort of - blah - came out

he didn't say WHAT word he started to say.

I presume the word he "started to say" was "black."

[noiretextatique]

17. santorum is a racist, lying, pandering pos

he said it, lying pos.

[LiberalAndProud]

20. He said black.

And he tried to swallow the word when he heard it coming out of his mouth. He framed welfare in terms of race because that is what he believes.

He can say what he wants, the truth tends to out itself.

[treestar]

21. He said black people

And I'm sick of their stupid argument that Democrats want to make everyone dependent on government so as to get their votes. Nobody wants to live like that.

He's implying people don't prefer to work if they can. Yeah, like people would rather live on welfare than on the higher amount of money they'd make on the job. Stupid.

[Marrah_G]

22. He is such a scumbag

I want some reporters to ask him " Do you REALLY think Americans are so stupid they would believe your "Blah" explanation?"

[Whisp]

23. he said 'black' crystal clear.

always been a filthy liar tho

[City Lights]

24. Lying racist scum. eom

[uponit7771]

26. He said black people, there's no doubt....even if he stumbled what he MEANT to say is clear

[pansypoo53219]

29. um....

macaca.

[LiberalAndProud]

30. Oh, *that's* what he said.

my bad

[The Genealogist]

32. He's a lying bigot

Of course his party is full of lying bigots, but he managed to get on the teevee saying something awful and racist, then lied about having done so on the teevee.

[justiceischeap]

33. It's much easier to make out on MSM

and not the MSM playing a youtube clip. I saw it earlier on MSNBC, a direct camera to video video and he said black. There was a brief pause, almost like he was thinking, "Should I say this?" and went ahead and said it.

If you can catch a MSM clip, you'll hear it.

[Texas Lawyer]

34. During that pause, did you also get the impression that he was checking for minorities?

[justiceischeap]

35. I got the impression he paused and thought

"I can't believe I'm about to say this."

I've had moments where I watched myself do something I knew just before I did it, that was going to be really dumb (I impaled my pinky on a spike once, watching the entire time knowing I was going to do it but didn't pull my pinky out of the way). I think that's where Santorum actually stumbled. I think he knew he was going to say black, paused as though he was going to pull it back and it just shot out. He knew as soon as he said it, that he'd said it and that's why he's trying to walk it back now.