Rick Santorum believes the slaughter of nine Black people in a historically Black church that is central to the African-American Civil Rights Movement was haphazard, random, and arbitrary.
Thursday morning Rick Santorum called into a local New York City talk radio show hosted by former Saturday Night Live actor Joe Piscopo, and was asked about Wednesday’s slaughter at a historically Black Charleston, South Carolina church.Â
We now know that the terrorism suspect is a white supremacist, but Santorum didn’t have a full day of news reports to rely on.
He did, however, have his mindset.
At 8:00 AM yesterday, the nation knew that the police were looking for a 21-year old white male. The suspect, the police also knew, had sat in the church before opening fire and murdering nine Black churchgoers, including their famous pastor and state senator, a civil rights leader who was debating a Congressional run.
By that time, the nation also knew the Charleston Chief of Police had twice labeled that attack a “hate crime.”
Instead of putting the most basic facts together, Santorum decided to use the slaughter of nine people to further his agenda, on which he is basing his 2016 presidential run: religious liberty.
“You just can’t think that things like this can happen in America. It’s obviously a crime of hate. Again, we don’t know the rationale, but what other rationale could there be?”
The former Pennsylvania senator said he was “sort of lost that somebody could walk into a Bible study in a church and indiscriminately kill people.”
Indiscriminately?
A white 21-year old walks into a Bible study in a historically Black church that is central in the African-American Civil Rights Movement and slaughters nine people, including its pastor, who was also a state senator and Santorum chalks this up to something haphazard, random, or arbitrary?
“It’s something that, again, you think we’re beyond that in America and it’s sad to see.â€Â
“All you can do is pray for those and pray for our country,†Santorum added. “This is one of those situations where you just have to take a step back and say we — you know, you talk about the importance of prayer in this time and we’re now seeing assaults on our religious liberty we’ve never seen before. It’s a time for deeper reflection beyond this horrible situation.â€
The clear and basic fact that everyone, except for religious conservatives, knew was this was a race-based attack, not an “assault on our religious liberty.”
How would a President Santorum lead us through an event like this?
The segment begins at about the 28 minute mark:
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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Raw Story and Washington Post