Santorum Tries Again To Defend Racist Welfare Rant: I Said ‘Plives,’ Not ‘Black’

By Marie Diamond/Think Progress

GOP contender Rick Santorum continues to try to explain away a racist welfare rant in which he said, “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better” through government aid. Santorum appeared to acknowledge he made the remarks in an interview with CBS shortly after the original comment. But after being roundly criticized, hebacktracked and claimed he said “blah” people, not “black.”

Santorum’s latest explanation is that what sounded like “black people” was actually the garbled word “plives”:

Rick Santorum said Monday that comments he made last week in Iowa about food stamps that some construed as racially charged were the result of his having been tongue-tied and were not a reference to black people.

Moreover, he said he has done more in black communities “than any Republican in recent memory.”

He maintains that he did not say “black” people’s lives but rather stumbled verbally when he was trying to say “people’s lives” and uttered a short syllable that came out as “plives.”

Here’s the original video — decide for yourself whether what he said sounds anything like “plives”:

Santorum’s self-aggrandizing claim that he’s done more for black people “than any Republican in recent memory” is even more of a leap. The NAACP blasted him for falsely suggesting that most welfare recipients are black. And on the campaign trail Santorum proudly touts his rolethrowing millions of families off the welfare rolls by supporting welfare “reform” in 1996.