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Bloggers Accuse Rick Santorum of Calling Obama the ‘N Word’ During Speech in Wisconsin

Rick Santorum was left temporarily tongue tied during a campaign rally in Janesville, Wis., on Tuesday.  Many throughout the blogosphere are claiming that Santorum nearly called President Obama the “N word” in the middle of his speech. 

“We know the candidate Barack Obama, what he was like,” said Santorum.  “The anti-war, government nig–” before stumbling over his words.  He continues with a critique of Obama’s reduction of the United States defense budget. 

Video of the speech was released Thursday night via the YouTube channel of JATV, a Janesville public access station. 

The Santorum campaign has yet to respond to the growing controversy, but Youtube, Facebook, and micro-blogging platforms such at Twitter and Tumblr are already abuzz with commentary. 

Some are already attempting to make light of the possible blunder with new Santorum Internet memes. Others aren’t entirely convinced that Santorum intended to use a racial slur at all.

“I think it will become a controversy just because of what’s been reported over the past few weeks with Trayvon [Martin] and race relations in America,” said Jordan Renee, a 21-year-old black student and blogger based in Chicago.  “But I personally don’t believe that’s what he meant to say. I mean, he’s not that dumb.”

 This is not the first time Santorum’s words have caused a media firestorm.  In January, Santorum said that he did not, “want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”  He has since denied the claim that he was associating black people with welfare, citing a “verbal stumble” as the cause of the misunderstanding.