Today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) apologized for referring to President Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect” in private conversations during the 2008 presidential campaign.
“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,” said Reid in a statement. “I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments.”
Don't worry its just more Liberal Press hypocrisy. Read on....
(Big Government) Harry Reid: "Obama Light-Skinned with No Negro Dialect"
Saturday is my favorite day to read the newspaper. That’s the day reporters and editors print stories they know they have to cover but don’t want to get wide attention. The latest evidence for this theory is the Washington Post’s treatment of the revelation of remarks made by Sen. Harry Reid during the 2008 Presidential campaign:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) apologized today for referring to President Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect” in private conversations during the 2008 presidential campaign.
“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,” said Reid in a statement. “I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments.”
Poor choice of words? Exactly what other combination of words could Sen. Reid have used to convey his point? And what, exactly, was his point anyway? What was the relevance of these observations? We don’t have the full context for the remark in the Post’s reporting. It simply notes that Reid’s comments are revealed in a new book, “Game Change”, authored by reporters from Time and New York magazines.
Interesting that the two magazine reporters, Mark Halperin and John Heileman, have been sitting on their knowledge of Reid’s remarks for so long. Holding onto such a scoop to promote book sales would be understandable, except that the incident doesn’t even make it into the promotional blurb for the book. Just move along, nothing to see here.
Which got me thinking about Trent Lott.
You remember him, right? The former Mississippi Senator was Senate Majority Leader back in 2002. Attending a birthday party for then Sen. Strom Thurmond, Sen. Lott made an idiotic statement:
"When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either".
As you can imagine, a firestorm ensued. Kweisi Mfume, then President of the NAACP said that Lott’s remarks were:
"The kind of callous, calculated, hateful bigotry that has no place in the halls of Congress".
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) said:
"It was shocking…a piercing voice through the fabric of Black America".
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) went even further:
"I simply do not believe the country can today afford to have someone who has made these statements again and again be the leader of the United States Senate".
It will be curious to see if Sen. Kerry thinks the country can afford to have Sen. Reid as leader of the Senate.
Reid’s remarks also got me thinking about former Virginia Sen. George Allen. Running for reelection in 2006, the called out to a Democrat campaign operative at an event, calling him "Macacca", an obscure french-colonial insult, generally thought to mean “monkey.” (The operative was of Indian descent.)
The Washington Post, in particular, seized on Allen’s weird comment and made it a major issue in the Senator’s reelection. They fanned the flames of the controversy so much that the paper’s ombudsman felt the need to review its coverage, noting:
Did The Post overplay the incident? Not initially, but the coverage went on for too long after he apologized. The news stories, handled by the paper’s Virginia political reporters, did not go overboard. An editorial was well done. Then the columnists weighed in, along with Style reporters and editorial cartoonist Tom Toles. No one piece was over the line. But when you put it all together, it looked like piling on.
In edition to extensive coverage throughout its pages, the Post ran at least six front-stage stories on Allen’s remark.
Today, Reid’s remarks warrant only scant Saturday-edition coverage. I should probably take this as a good sign that we’ve apparently moved beyond the issue of race.
(MSNBC) Harry Reid Apologizes For 2008 "No Negro Dialect" Comment
The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama's race during the 2008 presidential bid which are quoted in a yet-to-be-released book about the campaign.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described in private then-Sen. Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Obama is the nation's first African-American president.
"I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments," Reid said in a statement released after the excerpts were first reported on the Web site of The Atlantic magazine.
"I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama's legislative agenda."
Obama said in a statement he had spoken with Reid on Saturday afternoon and accepted the apology for what he termed an "unfortunate" comment. "I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years, I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice and I know what's in his heart," said Obama. "As far as I am concerned, the book is closed."
Reid remained neutral during the bitter Democratic primary campaign that became a marathon contest between Obama and then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Obama tapped as Secretary of State after the election.
Reid's comments are included in the book, obtained Saturday by The Associated Press and set to be published on Monday. "Game Change" was written by Time Magazine's Mark Halperin and New York magazine's John Heilemann.
The book also says Reid urged Obama to run, perceiving the first-term senator's impatience.
"You're not going to go anyplace here," Reid told Obama of the Senate. "I know that you don't like it, doing what you're doing."
Palin "doesn't know anything"
In another section, aides to Republican nominee Sen. John McCain described the difficulties they faced with their vice presidential pick, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Steve Schmidt, a senior member of McCain's campaign team, is quoted telling Palin's foreign policy tutors: "You guys have a lot of work to do. She doesn't know anything."
The authors also quote Obama's initial reaction to McCain's selection of a little-known governor: "Wow. Well, I guess she's change."
Vice presidential nominee Joe Biden was direct. "Who's Sarah Palin?" the book quotes the then-senator as asking as they left the nominating convention in Denver.
Reid, facing a tough 2010 re-election bid, needs the White House's help if he wants to keep his seat. Obama's administration has dispatched officials on dozens of trips to buoy his bid and Obama has raised money for his campaign.
Recognizing the threat, Reid's apologies also played to his home state: "Moreover, throughout my career, from efforts to integrate the Las Vegas strip and the gaming industry to opposing radical judges and promoting diversity in the Senate, I have worked hard to advance issues."
Even before his ill-considered remarks were reported, a new survey released Saturday by the Las Vegas Review Journal showed Reid continuing to earn poor polling numbers. In the poll, by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Reid trailed former state Republican party chairwoman Sue Lowden by 10 percentage points, 50 percent to 40 percent, and also lagging behind two other opponents.
More than half of Nevadans had an unfavorable opinion of Reid. Just 33 percent of respondents held a favorable opinion.
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Sources: MSNBC, Biggovernment.com, Boston Globe, Harper Collins, Google Maps
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