An Iconic Political Comeback A Decade Ago Signals Just How Desperate Trump’s Opponents Have Become
Rick Santorum shocked political analysts when he beat a single digits rating
Rick Santorum out at CNN after backlash over comments about Native Americans
Far-left network CNN announced over the weekend that it has "parted ways" with conservative contributor Rick Santorum, following uproar over comments he made about Native Americans in a recent speech.
What are the details?
HuffPost was first to report Saturday that CNN "terminated" its contract with Santorum, a former Republican senator, amid calls to fire him over comments he made during a speech for Young America's Foundation.
"If you think of other countries like Italy, Greece and China, and Turkey and places like that, they've all sort of changed over time, I mean, they've been there for millennia, in many cases, and their culture has sort of evolved over time," Santorum told the audience.
"But not us! We came here, and created a blank slate, we birthed a nation, from nothing," he continued. "I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes we have Native Americans but candidly there isn't much Native American culture in American culture."
The remarks drew furious condemnation online — including from one of his CNN colleagues who called him a "white supremacist."
Santorum responded to the initial backlash with a brief statement, saying, "I had no intention of minimizing or in any way devaluing Native American culture."
The senior political commentator was then confronted about his comments during an appearance on "Cuomo Prime Time," where he told host Chris Cuomo that he "misspoke," explaining, "I was talking about the founding, and the principles embodied embodied in the founding."
"I would never, and you know, people have said, 'Oh, I'm trying to dismiss what we did to the Native Americans,'" Santorum continued. "Far from it! The way we treated Native Americans was horrific. It goes against every bone and everything I've ever fought for, as a leader, in the Congress."
One CNN executive told HuffPost that Santorum's response on Cuomo's show was the nail in the coffin for ending his tenure with the liberal network.
"Leadership wasn't particularly satisfied with that appearance," the executive told the outlet. "None of the anchors wanted to book him, so he was essentially benched anyway."
Anything else?
In a story acknowledging that it had "parted ways" with Santorum, CNN pointed out two other conservative pundits who exited the network "amid controversy."
Former Reagan staffer Jeffrey Lord was let go from the network in 2017 after controversially tweeting the words, "Sieg Heil!" at a liberal activist. Lord said that his message was misunderstood, and that he was mocking fascists, rather than glorifying Nazis as he had been accused by critics.
Then in 2018, CNN pulled the plug on former George W. Bush staffer Paris Dennard over allegations that he was terminated from Arizona State University "for making sexually explicit comments and gestures toward women."
Dennard told the Washington Post that the allegations against him were "false," saying in a statement, "It is sadly another politically motivated attempt to besmirch my character, and shame me into silence for my support of President Trump and the GOP."
CNN host Kamau Bell calls Rick Santorum a 'white supremacist' for uttering the phrase 'We birthed a nation'
CNN host Kamau Bell lashed out at Rick Santorum for uttering the phrase "We birthed a nation," which Bell claimed was a shaded reference to a racist silent film from more than 100 years ago.
Santorum, who is a contributor at CNN, was defending the United States in a speech for Young America's Foundation when he mentioned the apparently offensive phrase.
"If you think of other countries like Italy, Greece and China, and Turkey and places like that, they've all sort of changed over time, I mean, they've been there for millennia, in many cases, and their culture has sort of evolved over time," said Santorum.
"But not us! We came here, and created a blank slate, we birthed a nation, from nothing," he continued. "I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes we have Native Americans but candidly there isn't much Native American culture in American culture."
Bell claimed in a tweet with the video of Santorum's comments that he was obliquely referring to "Birth of a Nation," a racist motion picture from 1915 that derided blacks and portrayed the Ku Klux Klan in a heroic manner.
".@RickSantorum -a white supremacist, white nationalist, racist, xenophobic sentient wet bag of garbage - sneaks in a mention to Birth of a Nation, a film where the KKK are'heroes', & he yada yadas genocide of the Indigenous people of this land. & he's a 'reasonable Republican,'" tweeted Bell.
.@RickSantorum -a white supremacist, white nationalist, racist, xenophobic sentient wet bag of garbage - sneaks in… https://t.co/NWAquRcqNQ— W. Kamau Bell (@W. Kamau Bell)1619458956.0
Bell went on in a second tweet to call on others on CNN to join his crusade against Santorum.
"Yep, we both work for @CNN. & that has never stopped me from calling him out. I look forward to all my CNN colleagues who regularly have him on doing the same. This is no 'both sides' to this. Mainstream media doesn't have a Black version of this on air regularly. This is QKKK," he tweeted.
Others criticized Santorum for downplaying the role that Native Americans had in forming the culture in the United States.
Santorum responded to some critics in a short statement to The Guardian on Monday.
"I had no intention of minimizing or in any way devaluing Native American culture," he said.
"Birth of a Nation" is also known for being the first American motion picture to be screened at the White House. Woodrow Wilson was the president at the time, and is recorded to have said the movie was "like writing history with lightning."
Here's the full Santorum speech from YAF:
The Fight for Religious Freedom | Senator Rick Santorum | Standing Up For Faith & Freedomwww.youtube.com
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