Rick Santorum Compares Obamacare to Apartheid, on Night of Mandela’s Death (Video)

Sigh

Congratulations to former Sen. Rick Santorum, the first person to say something nuts about Nelson Mandela’s death: The former presidential candidate compared Obamacare to Apartheid on “The O’Reilly Factor.”

First, some quick definitions: Obamacare is a government program designed to provide health care, which some critics have faulted for its size and cost and many have mocked for its glitch-filled website.

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Apartheid was a hellish system of government that branded all black South Africans inferior to whites, providing them less access to basic human rights. People who stood up for themselves were jailed and killed. Mandela spent 27 years in prison.

Santorum also has an unfortunate definition, but let’s set that aside for now.

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O’Reilly said he considered Mandela “a great man,” despite being “a communist,” which seemed to allow for the possibility that someone could be both. He was making the point that Democrats and Republicans might be able to work together despite ideological differences. Kudos, Bill.

Then Santorum took it to hyperbole town.

“Nelson Mandela stood up against a great injustice and was willing to pay a huge price for that, and that’s the reason he’s mourned today,” Santorum said. “But you’re right, what he was advocating for was not necessarily the right answer.”

I’m going to give Santorum the benefit of the doubt and assume he was awkwardly criticizing communism, rather than saying ending apartheid wasn’t “the right answer.”

“He was fighting against some great injustice, and I would make the argument that we have a great injustice going on right now in this country with an ever-increasing size of government that is taking over and controlling people’s lives — and Obamacare is front and center in that,” Santorum continued.

Before we all go wild in the comments below (looking forward to it!), can we agree that whatever the merits of Obamacare, on its worst day, it isn’t as bad as apartheid?

Finally, in Santorum’s defense, he once compared homosexuality and bestiality, so it’s possible he just doesn’t understand what any of the words coming out of his mouth mean.

Watch the video:

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