Rick Santorum Explains Obama Race Comments

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a likely 2012 GOP presidential contender, has released a statement to Hotsheet explaining his statement casting President Obama's comments on abortion as "almost remarkable for a black man."

Here's what he said in an interview with CNS News, via Right Wing Watch (video at left): "The question is -- and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer -- is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no. Well if that human life is not a person, then, I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, 'we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.'"

Asked to clarify the comments, Santorum sent Hotsheet a statement that began, "For decades certain human beings were wrongly treated as property and denied liberty in America because they were not considered persons under the constitution. "

"Today other human beings, the unborn of all races, are also wrongly treated as property and denied the right to life for the same reason; because they are not considered persons under the constitution," he continued. "I am disappointed that President Obama, who rightfully fights for civil rights, refuses to recognize the civil rights of the unborn in this country."

In a Saturday Feb. 20, 2010 file photo, former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington.

/ AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

As the Atlantic notes, "Opponents of abortion in recent years have compared the status of fertilized eggs, even pre-implantation, to that of pre-Civil War slaves who were not considered fully human."

Santorum, a Fox News contributor who lost his Senate reelection bid five years ago by a wide margin, is a staunch social conservative who has been a target of the left for his positions on issues including homosexuality and evolution.

During the CNS News interview he also addressed gay marriage, stating that supporters are trying to "defy nature because a certain group of people want to be affirmed by society. And I just don't think that's to the benefit of society or to the child."

[BigMykul]

I don't agree with abortion. However, I have no right to tell another what to do with their body.

[mrleme]

You have every right to tell someone what to do when it turns into a life and death choice for another human being. Do you read? That abortion doctor is charged with murder only because he wasn't technically trained in abortion but abortions like that, scissors to the spinal cord of fully developed babies, happens ALL THE TIME

[pr_boxer]

I still am amazed the the well educated, morally sound, hard working people of Pennsylvania ever elected this buffoon.

[GoGoUsa]

Sarah Palin is Rick Santorum in drag.

[YrWrongAgain]

I wonder if you are all fifteen years old, or have the experience of a fifteen year old, or have only the earnings of a fifteen year old.

[YrWrongAgain]

Oh, I see now. You're all cretins.

[YrWrongAgain]

I'm happy that the folks at the home taught you to spell LOL. It will give you an occupation when you are left to fend for yourself.

[YrWrongAgain]

You know baseball. Who's taken more balls to the chin, you or Yogi Berra?

[MurdochSucks]

What an idiot. This is why people call the "race card" that so many on the right seem to scream about. They race bait all the time and then get pissed when people call them on racist charges. Complete morons.

[meshine]

So he's comparing the rights of the unborn to that of functioning born humans that happens to have a darker skin tone than his. I kinda understand why he lost his last Senate race by a large margin. His brand of thinking is sick and disgusting.

[nanc12]

OMG - I did just google Santorum! How did that become the #1 Google response? That's hilarious.

[greenlantern1]

The fourteenth amendment makes it perfectly clear who an American citizen is.
It makes no exceptions for race, creed or color.
It makes no exception for anchor babies.
It does not include any of the unborn.
Shouldn't the president know about the Constitution?
Clifford Spencer

[thebob-bob]

Google Santorum and mixture.

[jookyg2]

Hahaha, just google "santorum"

Still waiting for this guy to get outed in an airport restroom or with a gay prostitute, as happens so often with these ultra-conservative ultra-anti-gay politicians.