NAACP president and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous on Wednesday blasted Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum for telling voters at an Iowa campaign stop earlier this week that he doesn’t want to "make Black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money; I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money."

"Santorum's targeting of African-Americans is inaccurate and outrageous, and lifts up old race-based stereotypes about public assistance," Jealous said in a statement. "He conflates welfare recipients with African-Americans, though federal benefits are in fact determined by income level."

When first asked why he was singling out Blacks, Santorum said that he wants to reduce dependency on government entitlements for people of all races and ethnicities. He also suggested that he was uncertain in what context he’d made the comment. Now, however, he’s says he was “tongue-tied” and is denying that he actually said the “Black.”

In an interview on CNN Wednesday, Santorum said, "I'm pretty confident that I didn't say 'Black'," adding that he "was starting to say one word, and I sort of came up with another word and moved on and it sounded like Black."

BET Politics - Your source for the latest news, photos and videos illuminating key issues and personalities in African-American political life, plus commentary from some of our liveliest voices.

(Photo: FRED PROUSER /LANDOV)