# Did Santorum almost call Obama the N word? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299 "2012-03-30T17:03:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/1 "2012-03-30T17:03:51Z")
[Youtube link here to a 15 second clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=egtaV6Pj8yI) My personal opinion? I honestly have no idea what other word he could have possibly been slipping out. I mean, I think us white people try to just skip all words that start with “nig” just to be extra safe, but maybe that’s just me. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/2 "2012-03-30T17:08:25Z")
You know, I loathe Santorum with the fire of a thousand suns, but having watched the video three times to be sure, I don’t think he was about to utter a word that just plain makes no sense in the context. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/3 "2012-03-30T17:11:32Z")
I didn’t detect anything like that. We have plenty of reasons to despise Santorum without making things up. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/4 "2012-03-30T17:11:36Z")
I have a hard time believing he was about to drop the n-bomb, but honestly cannot imagine what he WAS about to say. “Negator”? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/5 "2012-03-30T17:12:23Z")
I’m going to say no, but I can’t figure out what he stopped himself from saying. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/6 "2012-03-30T17:13:34Z")
I heard it as a mangled ending of the word “government.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/7 "2012-03-30T17:15:11Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I have a hard time believing he was about to drop the n-bomb, but honestly cannot imagine what he WAS about to say. “Negator”? Seconded. Yeah, it sounds like he started to say it and I can’t figure out what the hell he was trying to say, but I can’t figure out what he wanted to say and don’t really feel inclined to waste time on it- as opposed to last time, where I didn’t think he was using a racial slur and that his comment was basically intelligible. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/8 "2012-03-30T17:15:47Z")
That sentence wouldn’t make any sense if he was planning to say that word, but I’m at a loss as to what he was planning to say instead. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/9 "2012-03-30T17:22:13Z")
I would just like to interject here: if he was saying the N word, how would that not make sense? “We know what the candidate Barack Obama is like: anti-war, government nig\*\*\*.” Sure, that’s hardly the most eloquent of sentences, but that makes perfect sense (I mean, in a fucked up, racist way). ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/10 "2012-03-30T17:22:14Z")
He said, “The sheriff is near”. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/11 "2012-03-30T17:29:57Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > “We know what the candidate Barack Obama is like: anti-war, government nig\*\*\*.” One would expect that Santorum’s audience would know what he meant by an “anti-war, government n\*gger”. I suspect I am as close to the SDMB is gonna get to someone who can listen to Santorum and hear what he is saying without apoplexy, but I have no idea what that means. “Anti-war” I get - “government n_gger"? Santorum didn’t say anything close to "pro-big government n_gger” AFAICT. No idea. Maybe it was a Freudian slip, where you say one thing and mean my mother. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/12 "2012-03-30T17:31:06Z")
I don’t think he was going to say it, but he’s an idiot nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/13 "2012-03-30T17:33:45Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > I would just like to interject here: if he was saying the N word, how would that not make sense? > > “We know what the candidate Barack Obama is like: anti-war, government nig\*\*\*.” Sure, that’s hardly the most eloquent of sentences, but that makes perfect sense (I mean, in a fucked up, racist way). He was listing traits; saying Obama was “government” doesn’t make sense on its own, so I think his next word was going to be connected to the word government. Government-n\*gger doesn’t make any sense either, unless that’s a term I’ve missed out on (so to speak). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/14 "2012-03-30T17:34:14Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I heard it as a mangled ending of the word “government.” Right, he coined a new word, “governmentnig.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/15 "2012-03-30T17:38:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe it was a Freudian slip, where you say one thing and mean my mother. Y’know, Freud thought everything was based on the penis, but really, that’s just a phallusy. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/16 "2012-03-30T17:39:54Z")
No, I don’t think he was about to say the n-word. Yes, I think he’s probably racist. I wish I had more context though. Like who he was speaking to at the time and the rest of his speech. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/17 "2012-03-30T17:40:30Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > He was listing traits; saying Obama was “government” doesn’t make sense on its own, so I think his next word was going to be connected to the word government. Government-n\*gger doesn’t make any sense either, unless that’s a term I’ve missed out on (so to speak). I sort of assumed “government-n\*gger” meant something like that he was a slave to big government. Idk. I suppose I haven’t put terribly much thought into it, but upon first hearing the clip, that’s what popped into my head. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/18 "2012-03-30T17:45:05Z")
I dunno what he was going to say, but I don’t think it was the n-word. For all of Santorum’s faults (and there are many), I can’t see him as a racist. I know that a lot of rich white dudes are racists behind closed doors, and Santorum is certainly slimy in other ways (notably, his anti-woman views). But he’s never tried to \*hide \*that he’s anti-woman. I mean, last week-ish he said Obama would make a better prez than Romney. It’s hard to believe he would think that and secretly think of Obama as a n-word. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/19 "2012-03-30T17:49:15Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I mean, last week-ish he said Obama would make a better prez than Romney. It’s hard to believe he would think that and secretly think of Obama as a n-word. I disagree with this point; he could think of Obama that negatively and still believe that having a real moderate is better than a fake conservative in the Oval Office, because at least it’s honest. But I don’t think that Santorum was about to call Obama that; I think it was a stutter or a slip. The man has been giving speeches every day for months. It’s a wonder that it took this long for such a slip to happen, especially when you consider how many offensive slurs there are to choose from. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/20 "2012-03-30T17:59:19Z")
You know, I find myself thinking of Santorum as not-more-than-ordinarily racist\* for a conservative, by which I mean a conservative voter, not Republican party leadership, who are much more hardcore. Black people make him uncomfortable, and he’d sell his house if the neighborhood got too colorful, and he almost certainly sees them as \*other \*and perhaps even as _lesser_, but probably not as _niggers_, as he falls just short of hate. \*A depressing but sort of necessary phrase, I think. I condemn all racism, while recognizing a distinction between a moron who’ll cross the street to avoid a black person and a hardcore racist who’d vote against civil rights and longs for the days of open discrimination. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299.md?page=2)