The American Spectator

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum presidential bid, which already looked like a steep climb, just got steeper.

After referring to President Obama’s infamous line that determining human life was “above (his) pay grade,” Santorum said:

“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 ‘now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.”

If we were to give Santorum the benefit of the doubt, he could have been referencing the fact that blacks were counted as three-fifths persons in the Constitution and thus arguing that black people should be especially reticent of government attempts to deny the status of personhood to other human beings. But you have to be tone deaf to not realize how such a remark is going to play out in the modern political environment, especially when you’re combining such volatile issues as race and abortion.

Santorum is admired by supporters for his unapologetic stances on social issues. The problem is, he manages to discuss those issues in a way that alienates people who disagree with him rather than winning converts. Which is one thing if he wants to be a commentator, but a completely different story if he still wants a political career. He should be able to make an argument against Obama’s position on abortion without bringing race into it. Such a statement does not add to, but only distracts from, any argument.

Losing a Senate race by 18 points isn’t usually the launching pad for a presidential run six years later, and this latest controversy isn’t likely to help whatever chances remained for a Santorum comeback.

Via CBN’s David Brody.

UPDATE:

Santorum responds to the criticism:

“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.  I am disappointed that President Obama, who rightfully fights for civil rights, refuses to recognize the civil rights of the unborn in this country.”

Via Life News.