Harry Reid in hot water over quote
 

Critics of President Obama – Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele foremost among them – see no small amount of hypocrisy in Mr. Obama’s forgiveness of Senate majority leader Harry Reid.

Senator Reid is quoted in a new book by two journalists about the 2008 campaign, “Game Change,” as saying privately that the US would be “ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama – a 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.’ ”

When the quotes came to light Saturday, Reid apologized to Obama, and Obama accepted. Mr. Steele and other say that is political relativism, with Democrats evading punishment for comments that would have sunk Republicans.

Reid’s importance to healthcare reform speaks to the political expediency of forgiveness – Obama has had few more earnest or effective allies on Capitol Hill. Yet some black commentators have a different take: For them, what Reid said is not all that shocking.

'Too black'

Boyce Watkins, a professor of finance and social commentator at Syracuse University, doesn’t see Reid’s statement as a matter of individual racism, but as a calculation of political fact.

Reid “wasn't necessarily giving his own opinion. Rather, he was giving his assessment of the preferences of the American public,” writes Dr. Watkins on the website, theGrio.

Reid is “a bellwether of public opinion and an accurate reflection of the ‘political pulse’ of the white American voting population,” he adds.

Watkins's conclusion: It “reminds many African-Americans across the country that if our speech patterns or appearance are 'too black' (whatever that means) or too different from what some consider acceptable, we are going to be deemed inferior.”


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Steele doesn't need to be pointing too many fingers with that "honest injun" comment of his hanging in the air!

Steele is an @ss anyway.

I am still laughing about him wanting to give the GOP some 'hip hop flayvah.'

And the GOP doesn't want any of it I can guarantee it!

can there please be a middle wing party now?, everyone involved in this is just plain embarrassing.

then it wouldn't be a wing

how come there's no dorsal feather party?

When all is said and done, if you lean conservative and say this type rubbish, you really must have meant it. When you lean liberal and say this type stuff you didn't mean it and all is forgiven. The double standard and hypocrisy speaks for itself.

Now President Clinton has reportedly stated to Sen. Kennedy something to the effect that "in years past he (then Sen. Obama) would be serving us coffee." This was during the 2008 Presidential Bid by then Sen. Clinton. But he really didn't mean it.:rolleyes:

Apparently it's scandalous to say something true.

There's no way on God's earth that someone who looked and spoke like Kendrick Perkins could be elected president in this decade, even if he had all of Obama's credentials. And back in the day, Obama WOULD have been serving coffee.

I mean, really. Can you seriously debate those points on their merits?
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I'm not sure that I agree. In keeping with the tone of the quote, Had a conservative said what Reid said, I would have assumed he meant it, and as with Reid, he meant it as well...and it is true. Obama is palatable to some white people in politics on both sides of the aisle in part because of what Reid stated.

I personally hadn't heard of the aforementioned Clinton quote so I can't comment much on it, but again it is a true quote. However, having little context with the Clinton quote, something about the quote itself doesn't sit right with me. It could be a factual observation, but within a certain context it can also be a thinly veiled insult.

^^^It is mentioned in the same book "Game Change" that the Reid quote was found.

If a conservative said what Reid said, whether it is true or not per your contention, he/she would have been forced to give up his leadership post by those who are giving Reid a pass. Thus the double standard.

I doubt that. Not to mention, the example being bandied around about Trent Lott is like comparing apples and oranges. Sorry, wishing that Strom Thurmond had won the race for president, a segregationist who would have made sure that the civil rights movement had never taken place, is not the same as assessing the likelihood that a light-skinned black man would be able to win an election for president.

it would have been smarter to air this all out while the senate was airing out the health care bill.

This is getting really stupid now.

oh noooo

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/201...politico/31340

Quote:
Democrats are preparing to throw the race card back in the laps of Republicans as part of a counterattack designed to help save Harry Reid’s political career.

First, Reid’s allies plan to distribute the NAACP vote ratings of Republican senators who have scolded him. The data will be made available to editorial boards, cable programs and the blogosphere — including votes on minimum wage, community-oriented policing, education funding and HIV/AIDS programs.

Separately, the Congressional Black Caucus plans to issue a new statement Monday, defending Reid and brushing back Republicans.

“Senator Reid’s record provides a stark contrast to actions of Republicans to block legislation that would benefit poor and minority communities — most recently reflected in Republican opposition to the health bill now under consideration,” CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said. “I look forward to Senator Reid continuing to serve as Majority Leader to guide this important agenda through the Senate.”

These moves to turn the race issue back onto Republicans is risky, yet it shows how Reid and his allies are ready to pull out all the stops to help the majority leader recover from his disastrous comments about Barack Obama being “light-skinned” and having no “Negro dialect.” The comments were revealed in the book “Game Change” by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

“There are some Republicans who are trying to use this for political advantage,” said a source close to the Reid camp. “If Senators [Jon] Kyl, [John] Cornyn and others want to have an open and honest debate about race — and if they want to discuss their records on issues of importance to the African-American community — we welcome that dialogue. But we are not going to stand idly by while hypocritical Republicans take swipes at Senator Reid, distorting his record of achievement and their own record of failure.”

Top Democrats tell POLITICO that they have no doubt that that Reid, a former amateur boxer, will keep fighting and survive in his leadership job. Indeed, Reid’s racial flub is already turning out differently than the one made by Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) in 2002. When Lott made a nostalgic remark about the segregationist Dixiecrat presidential run of Strom Thurmond, his Republican allies quickly abandoned him. Democrats are sticking by Reid so far.

Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat, is said to be quite certain Reid would ride out the controversy, particularly because Obama and the Rev. Al Sharpton had accepted Reid's apology and issued effusively supportive statements.

"It's not a shock to any Democrat that Harry Reid is not the best spokesman," said an aide to a top Democratic senator. "But he made a heartfelt apology."

I want all of the white folks to chill out and have a seat.

DC is very much like high school. Next they'll be on GC posting about it all.

LMAO.

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned that Reid is Mormon yet. His religion tells him that black people have no souls! C'mon MM! You should have been all over that !


hehehe!

You know the media, the CBC and the NAACP would be all over this if Sen. McConnell or Baynor had said it. Still a double standard IMO but I have said my piece and counted to three.

All of this just goes to show, America still hasn't gotten over itself when it comes to this issue, no matter WHO you elect as president.

It's time for Race Wars: 2010 Edition

Why would the Canadian be all over McConnell or Baynor?

Congressional Black Caucus dude...LOL

And Ghost this may be the reason why the CBC and NAACP isn't down on Reid.

Ouw, I thought he was talking about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Hehe, now I feel stupid.

I don't think many Republicans would have the credentials back them up.

Shhh....they don't believe that anymore, and you aren't supposed to talk about the multiple wives either! ;)

:confused:

Ummmm...did you find the Imus thread and cut and paste into this thread instead of just making whatever point you wanted to make?

If anyone agrees with those points, it means that they inhabit the planet Earth and speak English.

The question is why anybody, Republican or otherwise, would get their panties in a twist over a senator stating an obvious truth. The sun sets in the West each night, the Pope is Catholic, and no one who looks and speaks like Snoop Dogg could have been elected president in 2008.

If a true statement is intended as an insult -- like "Your ass is fat" -- then it makes sense for the target to get upset about it. And of course, some terminology has the insult built right in. But if there's no insult, there's no story. Accurately describing the racist world we live in is not a racist act.
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They do...it's called the nightly news in Baltimore.

Harry Reid said "Negro dialect" and that phrasing has many things built in. However, Reid's point is an unspoken understanding that many Black folks said from day one and many white folks tried to deny from day one.

Either way, I don't sense that the general population truly gives a darn about his comments. This is all a diversion tactic and an attempt to sell that darn book. It is the media and politicians who are keeping this going. That would also be the case if this was a Republican.

I always say that Blacks (and other power minorities in this country) would go crazy if we put a whole lot of thought and reaction into every potentially offensive thing that is said and done. You have to take most things with a grain of salt and just nod your head at it. That seems to be what Obama did. Of course, Blacks don't all have to agree with my take on it and there's no rule about how long it should be discussed and when folks should move on. I stopped being the Black leader last week. :)

I would think most people would be offended at the truth behind the statement rather than the statement itself. I love how many people claim that racism plays no part in people's dislike of Obama, but as a former Republican from a very conservative area, I still get tons of emails, FB posts, etc from acquaintances...and yes, family and friends, that are blatantly racist about Obama and his wife. America (now for some of you, I know this is not a surprise) isn't as color blind as we all like to pretend.

The problem is when that particular community is targeted while teen pregnancy, crime, and low graduation rates in the general population are ignored. It reminds me of that new LMN movie about the teen pregnancy pact among the white girls. That movie would look completely different if it was Black or Hispanic. People would not be shocked. There were teen pregnancy pacts at my Black high school in the late 80s and early 90s.

Whites are still the population and power majority in this country. Blacks have disproportionately high rates of particular social problems including crime and poverty. That's not to be confused with media inaccuracies like "Blacks commit most crimes" and "Blacks receive most of the social welfare."

If people want to talk about statistics and ACCURATE interpretations of statistics in their proper context, fine. If they want to offend, fuck off.

GASP!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooo....tosses himself out of a basement window!

I know....it's shocking isn't it?! Jimmy Carter tried to tell you, but you wouldn't listen!

Speaking of Mormons...

This just can't get any worse (or dumber)....or can it? ;)

You decide.

That was political satire. You almost tricked me.

If not for the title, and the article, I would have been tricked.

It does, but one way to read his use of that phrase is that he was highlighting the extreme reaction some bigots would have to a Snoop-Dogg-esque presidential speech. In other words, he was describing what might go on in the mind of a prejudiced voter. I agree with the president that this phrasing was clumsy, because it could be misinterpreted to mean that Harry Reid thinks it's still OK to call black people Negroes.

CALLING someone a Negro in 2010 would have a very different ring to it than referring to Negro dialect when you're discussing the prejudice of some white voters.
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Translation: Harry Reid said "Negro dialect" and that phrasing has many things built in.

My post went completely over your head.