Cornelius Walker thinks there are a few perfectly logical explanations for what word Rick Santorum may have been saying that aren’t necessarily the N-word.
Everyone is talking about Rick Santorum’s supposed gaffe Thursday afternoon because of what they perceive to be him almost calling President Barack Obama a nigger.
Before everyone rushes to judgement, there are plenty of explanations for Santorum’s stumble:
– he was going to call him a Knicks fan, then remembered he’s from Chicago and probably roots for the Bulls
– he was going to call him Nice, but remembered these are people who booed the Golden Rule
– he was going to say he was Neighborly, but realized Muslims don’t make good neighbors
– he was going to call him a Nigerian, in an attempt to pander to the birthers, but remembered Obama was born in East Africa, not West
See, there’s at least four perfectly reasonable explanations. I’m sure if you watch the video you can come up with your own.
And how could I have forgotten this performance by Tim Minchin. Absolutely brilliant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVN_0qvuhhw
Who knows? Somehow I doubt that anyone already considering voting for him is likely to be put off by the possibility that he’s racist though.
Peter has a point. I, for one, thought of “nit,” but that’s probably due to Mel Brooks.
Speaking of Mel Brooks, Justin Cascio reminded me of this bit:
Blazing Saddles
I’m pretty sure he was totally going to drop the big N. But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, twice, and pretend he said “blah,” and… I don’t know what else to be honest. Can the West really afford a man who is so prone to these racist sounding speech issues? Can we trust him not to do the same thing meeting foreign dignitaries and stumble into a half-slur?
I like the Ninja theory.
I’m pretty sure he was going to say, “government ninja” and I agree that our nation needs a special forces team of ninjas.
Maybe he was suggesting that he ninja’d the government?
Really? Do we think he was going to say “Government Nigger”? What is that? If doesn’t mean anything. No, I don’t think he was about to say “the N word,” but nearly said something else which he decided was a bad thing to say. In changing course, he stumbled and inadvertently moved on to another topic: America as a “source for division throughout the world.” Bottom line is he was self-conscious and possibly unprepared; could not focus his thoughts into a clear idea and express them. He’s not president material. That’s clear, so don’t vote for him. But it does… Read more »
You’re right, I don’t know what he was going to say, only he does. Not everyone is as gifted an extemporaneous speaker as William Jefferson Clinton or Barack Hussein Obama are.
I think the reason people wonder, however, is because when someone goes off-script it’s not uncommon for their true feelings to accidentally slip out. That and there just aren’t many words in the english language that start with that sound.
He’s not going to become president. Does that mean we can’t poke fun at him? Give the video a listen, what do you think he started to say?
Nobody knows, but we can make an educated guess based on the current political climate in the Republican party whereby subtle and hostile forms of racism have become acceptable protest. I’m sure Rick Santorum isn’t a white-hood wearing racist, but then again, this is guy who said, “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.” Santorum has always been a classist misogynist homophobic racist. So this gaffe, doesn’t surprise me as much as it gives me yet another reason… Read more »
I’m not at all a fan of Santorum, but I agree with Bubba. It sounded to me like clumsy public speaking, as so much of his public speaking does, but “government nigger” doesn’t sound like it would make any sense even in a Santorum way, so I can’t believe that’s what he was on the verge of saying, even though I can’t stand the guy. Even when reaching into his doublespeak bag for unprepared comments, I don’t expect that word to be one he’d almost pull out on the campaign trail.