.
Santorum is focused on the people in the room and addresses the white folks of Iowa (97% white). I listened again, agree with the “b” sound in the word, it ain’t black but rather “blight.” Definition of blight.
“They’re just pushing harder and harder to get more and more of you dependent upon them so they can get your vote. That’s what the bottom line is. I don’t want to make blight 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.”
Another listener agrees with me … (source in comments to video on YouTube)
“Always have to pull the race card, huh? “Blight” – the state or result of being blighted or deteriorated; dilapidation; decay: urban blight. CBS News, you owe Mr. Santorum an apology. He did not say black………..the man said “blight”, which can used when referring to people who are in poverty or in a sense of frustration or living in an area of dilapidation. No wonder Fox News is leaving you Obama loving libs in the dust. RIP journalism.”
Many liberals jumped on the racist card without any critical frame of mind.
See also my earlier comment in Booman’s fp story – Worst person in the world.
More below the fold with an Update …
Undecided at Mediate
”I would note that Santorum’s shoestring campaign lends credibility to the idea that he hasn’t seen the video. When I tried to call Santorum’s campaign for comment, I got a voicemail message, and the inbox was full. I emailed the campaign as well then, but it was the general press email. I’ve since emailed their communications team. I’ve got no vested interest in defending Rick Santorum, but it sounds to me like he just stumbled in his sentence, and made a vocalization akin to an ‘um’ or an ‘uh.’ There’s no hard K sound, and ‘black people’ doesn’t fit the context.”
UPDATE:
Serious doubt on whether Santorum actually said “black people’s lives”
One person who did listen to what Santorum said was my friend Tommy Christopher, who I assume doesn’t agree with Santorum’s point or much else Santorum has to say. Tommy, however, is both honest and thorough, and says that CBS gave Santorum a bum rap:
A review of a clearer version of the video, however, casts serious doubt on whether Santorum actually said “black people’s lives.” CBS News has posted a cleaner version of Santorum’s remarks, and it seems as though Santorum did not actually say “black people’s lives,” but rather, that he stumbled in mid-sentence with a verbal tic that sounded like that.
“I don’t want to make…mmbligh…people’s lives better” is what it sounds like to me.
Given the preceding context, in which he talks about the government trying to get more Iowans enrolled in Medicaid, the former explanation makes much more sense than the latter. Here’s the CBS clip. The viewer can judge, but even as an LGBT-friendly liberal, I’m inclined to give Santorum the benefit of the doubt here.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."