# 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:** 2
**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, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/21 "2012-03-30T18:01:38Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I mean, last week-ish he said Obama would make a better prez than Romney. No, he didn’t. He said that if the Republicans nominate Romney, “we” might as well re-elect Obama because there’s not much difference between them. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/22 "2012-03-30T18:10:43Z")
Maybe he was going to call him a “nattering nabob of negativism?” ---
**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, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/23 "2012-03-30T18:12:12Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Maybe he was going to call him a “nattering nabob of negativism?” Good point. After all, Santorum has never been one to hide his affinity for alliteration. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/24 "2012-03-30T18:16:46Z")
I don’t know Rick Santorum or whether or not he hates black people (I certainly would think he’d be happy to call someone a faggot) but in context it doesn’t make any sense for “nigger” to have been the next word. It just sounds like he mangled what he was saying after “government,” which has the same basic sounds in it. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/25 "2012-03-30T18:17:39Z")
Can’t stand Santorum, but no way is this a racial slur. It sounds to me like he was trying to coin a new word, “governmentnik” (you know, like “peacenik”), realized a moment too late that it could be REALLY badly misheard, and then compounded the problem by stopping short. ---
**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, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/26 "2012-03-30T18:29:19Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Can’t stand Santorum, but no way is this a racial slur. It sounds to me like he was trying to coin a new word, “governmentnik” (you know, like “peacenik”), realized a moment too late that it could be REALLY badly misheard, and then compounded the problem by stopping short. Ooh. I like this theory better than any others I’ve heard. I just don’t see Santorum as the kind of person who even thinks the word “nigger” frequently enough that it’s liable to slip out when he’s not thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/27 "2012-03-30T18:50:49Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > 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. I agree. And for the record, it sounded to me like he was about to say nincompoop and tripped over his words. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/28 "2012-03-30T18:55:54Z")
I would vote ‘could go either way’, but it wasn’t there. So I had to vote dumb. Sorry **Diosa**. ---
**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, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/29 "2012-03-30T18:59:29Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I would vote ‘could go either way’, but it wasn’t there. So I had to vote dumb. Sorry **Diosa**. I’ll forgive you this time. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/30 "2012-03-30T19:02:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I didn’t detect anything like that. We have plenty of reasons to despise Santorum without making things up. Like the fact he wears sweatervests with his own name embroidered on them. I think he meant to say “governmentnik” myself. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/31 "2012-03-30T19:05:10Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > He said, “The sheriff is near”. > > Regards, > Shodan “Are you insane? Don’t you know that that man is a ni- aheheh. Sorry about that, wrong person. Are you insane?! Don’t you know that that man is a nit?” ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/32 "2012-03-30T19:05:11Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > Can’t stand Santorum, but no way is this a racial slur. It sounds to me like he was trying to coin a new word, “governmentnik” (you know, like “peacenik”), realized a moment too late that it could be REALLY badly misheard, and then compounded the problem by stopping short. I voted “racist” before seeing this post. We know that he started to say something but then worried it would give offense. “Nigger” was the only possibility that occurred to me, but I see that “governmentnik” might also be plausible. Although I voted “racist” the real point is that, regardless of his true feelings, he wants to appeal to his supporters, who are mostly racist. I can’t rule out that the corrected slip was deliberate: sending a message to his base while preserving deniability if the left-wing media tries to call him on it. The usage “government nigger,” while peculiar here, is not without precedent. First hit with related Google search is > [@](#): > > Does your firm have a company nigger that they always wheel out for PR? The trade magazine photos and on the booth at the trade fair? ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/33 "2012-03-30T19:05:48Z")
It seems to be he was going to say, “anti-war government negotiator” or as others have said “governmentnik” like “peacenik”. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/34 "2012-03-30T19:11:59Z")
Santorum is an idiot and disgusting, but I don’t think he’s _that type_ of racist. I think he’s the type who thinks that only white men are the victims of racism. To quote myself from another thread: > [@](#): > > I’ll be the first to admit that I think anything that makes him look bad is funny. Against my better judgment, I listened to a little more of the speech. He’s a terrible speaker. He calls Scott Walker and Rebecca Kleefish “great governor and lieutenant governor Puh… Walker and and Kleebuh… and Kleefisch.” ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/35 "2012-03-30T19:12:17Z")
I don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised; remember Dick Armey letting out “Barney Fag”? The Republicans ARE a bunch of bigots, and pretty obviously talk like it in private. I expect that Santorum and the majority of the Republican leadership refer to Obama by racial slurs on a regular basis when the media isn’t there to record them. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/36 "2012-03-30T19:49:20Z")
> [@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”? I wondered, since he emphasized “anti-war” leading up to the slip, if maybe he was thinking “peace-nik,” but it all came out wrong? Does anyone even use peace-nik as a slur anymore? Other than that, I got nuthin’ and combined with the previous “blah people” thing…I dunno. ---
**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, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/37 "2012-03-30T19:50:30Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > Does anyone even use peace-nik as a slur anymore? To a guy in a sweater vest? Probably. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/38 "2012-03-30T19:51:03Z")
Haven’t watched the clip, but maybe he was going for “government niggardly fool” or some such. Not that that makes any more sense. And not that a large percentage of people would object to “niggardly” as well, even though it’s not a racist word. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/39 "2012-03-30T20:37:02Z")
A Freudian slip for “nagger”? 😉 ---
**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, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299/40 "2012-03-30T20:43:47Z")
Negotiator? Looks like neg but sounds like nig. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-santorum-almost-call-obama-the-n-word/617299.md?page=3)