CBS Just Makes Up Santorum Saying He Doesn't Want to Give "Black People" Money

Given that I'd like Santorum to fail, I'm naturally inclined to want this to be true.

Problem? It's not. In mid-sentence, he seems to have stumbled over whether his next word would be "people" or "lives." He corrects it, in the end, to "people's lives," but with a non-word before it.

The word isn't "black." It's just not a word at all. It's a slur of p and b (closely related labials ) and lie as he can't figure out it's going to be lives or people's lives he says next.

To the extent he said any word at all, he came closest to saying "Bligh." So he's apparently against giving money to mutineered captains. Which, actually, is sensible enough. Look, don't get mutineed, dude. We shouldn't subsidize losing control of your ship.

See for yourself.

Also note that that is CBSNews online claiming that this stutter was a racial slur, not some stupid blog. CBSNews probably got it from a blog, of course.

But now they're just running that claim. If I could tell he didn't say black, how did CBSNews be so sure he did say it?

There's a trick going 'round which idiots in the newsmedia haven't seen, I guess. In 2007, video was released of old Clinton strategist and Hillary crony Mickey Kantor calling rural white people "worthless white n*ggers."

That's what the helpful text at the bottom of the video said, at least. And when you saw it, the text supplied you with the words you then expected to hear, and you heard it.

But he didn't say anything of the sort. Not even remotely close. I can't remember what he said, but it was something utterly benign that made no mention of whites or blacks or anything. It was something like "We're winning this," something absurdly far away from "worthless white n*ggers."

So now CBSNews is playing the role that hyperpartisan campaign operatives and bloggers used to play in creating verbal gaffes which didn't even happen.

On O'Reilly, Santorum denied saying it. He's right. He didn't. It's just CBSNews running "worthless white n*ggers" beneath him.

By the way, I still think it's a big mistake to nominate him. If conservatives really think the public is hankering for a social conservative who thinks the state should have the right to forbid birth control -- well, enjoy guys, and wake me up in 2016 after Obama's done with his two (??? -- only two?) terms.

The McGurk Effect: Not sure this is on-point -- but a very, very interesting illusion involving lip-reading.

When you watch this guy say "Bah bah bah," with b lip movements, you hear "bah bah bah." But when the audio is synced to him mouthing out "fah fah fah," you hear "fah fah fah" -- despite the fact that, actually, it's always "bah bah bah."

Thanks to RD for that illusion. He's got an illusion for every situation.

posted by Ace at 08:17 PM

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