Santorum Backs Away From Campaign Slogan When Told It's From Famous Langston Hughes Poem

[RamboLiberal]

Rick Santorum is backing away from the campaign slogan featured on the website for his exploratory committee, "Fighting to Make America America again," after it was pointed out to him that it was first made famous in a pro-union poem by the gay poet Langston Hughes.

ThinkProgress first pointed out Thursday that the line on the website homepage is from Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes's poem "Let America Be America Again":

At an event Thursday in New Hampshire, Santorum was asked by Lee Fang of ThinkProgress whether he realized the association. "No I had nothing to do with that," he said. "I didn't know that. And the folks who worked on that slogan for me didn't inform me that it came from that, if it in fact came from that."

When he was later asked what it means to him, Santorum replied: "Well, I'm not too sure that's my campaign slogan, I think it's on a web site."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/santorum-backs-away-from-campaign-slogan-when-told-it-was-lifted-from-langston-hughes.php?ref=fpb

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Backpedal all you want, Santorum...

You own it now.

:woohoo:

[Habibi]

2. What can one say but:

:rofl:

[frazzled]

3. LOL

a pro-union poem by the gay BLACK poet Langston Hughes. TPM missed an adjective.

Santorum will have to change his slogan to just plain "Fighting"

[buddysmellgood]

4. Damn those gay people! Once again they have conspired to thwart

god-fearing Americans with their excessive creativity. Why does this keep happening!

[stevedeshazer]

5. Didn't anyone on his staff think to at least google it?

They steal everything, even slogans.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. I think the "Santorum" folks are afraid of the Google.

Not sure why.

[stevedeshazer]

29. LOL!

:rofl:

[Generic Other]

6. Tom Lehrer time! LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNC-aj76zI4

[hobbit709]

19. Exactly

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[pepperbear]

7. what's sad is, here's what he could've said:

"I had no idea where it came from, but that's irrelevent. 'Making America better again' is an idea we can all get behind."

Instead, he's afraid of offending his base, so he must disavow any knowledge of the gay, black writer.

Savvy, that one is.

[JaneQPublic]

8. Wait till he finds out...

...that King James of "The King James Bible" was gay.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

9. it was from a poet and he didn't know it.

[Contrary1]

10. Who would of thunk?

[RamboLiberal]

11. Not sure if I could post the whole poem but here's a snippet

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

-----

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.


http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15609

The antithesis of all Santorum stands for.

[malaise]

17. It's one of his best poems

I have this lovely book - The Poetry of the Negro 1746-1970 edited by Langston and Arna Bontemps.

I also love his "I too Sing America"

[me b zola]

18. I have that book :)

...and adore Hughes :loveya:

[malaise]

21. It was a gift from hubby

before he was hubby. He knew I loved Langston and the Jamaican McKay's "If We Must Die".

[martymar64]

22. A Dream Deferred is the poem that comes to mind for me

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

[bhikkhu]

12. I just can't get past the Urban Dictionary now when I hear his name:

"santorum 6796 up, 346 down

The sometimes frothy, usually slimy, amalgam of lubricant, stray fecal matter, and ejaculate that leaks out of the receiving partner's anus after a session of anal intercourse. Named, by popular demand and usage, after legislator Rick Santorum because of his homophobic political statements.
"That move was about as slick as santorum!"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Santorum

[DCKit]

13. You have to use it in an illustrative sentence:

"Rough night at the baths last night. It took an hour to wash off all the Santorum."

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Ah. Santorum, in another sticky situation.

Verily, a frothy mess.

[me b zola]

31. lol

verily :rofl:

[malaise]

16. That's the problem with ignorance

:rofl:

Let America be America again
Let it be the dream it used to be
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/let-america-be-america-again/

It's one of his longest poems from 1937.

Here are all his poems
http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/

[mwb970]

20. republicans are such idiots! It's maddening. /nt

[hootinholler]

23. Wait a minute....

The guy is running for the US Senate, and he doesn't know what his own campaign slogan is?

-Hoot

[Mnemosyne]

24. Nope, putrid ignorant asshole is running for Prez this time. n/t

[hootinholler]

28. Oh, ok, I guess that's better :/ n/t

[Mnemosyne]

30. No way is it better. Much worse with the baggers running around. n/t

[crickets]

25. Delicious. Reminds me of the Reagan campaign

that used 'Born in the USA' - apparently without having listened to the words and without having bothered to get permission first. Needless to say, when Bruce objected and got it stopped, the copyright violation (IOKIYAR!) was not the only reason why.

"the folks who worked on that slogan for me didn't inform me that it came from that, if it in fact came from that"

In other words, they'd heard it somewhere and it sounded right so they decided to go with it. Slogans are just supposed to sound good, not really MEAN anything.

It's hilarious when pols do this, but it's also really sad.

[reformist2]

26. Seriously, they are only a couple of steps away from book burning.

[Honeycombe8]

27. Ha! How STUPID of him to use a quote he didn't know where it came from! nt