ormer Pennsylvania Senator and 2nd place 2012 Republican presidential nominee, Rick Santorum took the stage in Tampa in advance of the Keynote address by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and set the underlying tone for the Republican campaign going forward. Unlike what the Republicans have claimed of the Obama Campaign, i.e. that it is “class warfare,” Santorum’s speech evoked visions of “freedom,” “personal liberty” and the virtues of “hard work” in a society without government.
Santorum seized on the Romney Campaign’s proven “Big Lie” that has prompted five separate false campaign ads, charging Obama with gutting Welfare Reform enacted under President Clinton and a Republican controlled Congress in 1996, by eliminating the “work requirement” and simply mailing out checks. Despite the fact that many more White Americans receive some form of public assistance…such as, Food Stamps, Santorum’s speech was replete with unabashed “dog-whistle” phrases and language designed to play to the basest, racist stereotypes in American history to solidify their base and appeal to White Voters willing to accept these lies and distortions.
