Harry Reid Apologizes To Obama

I am sorry Harry Reid said this. But let me point out that the book is by Mark “Drudge rules my world” Halperin. Consider the source.

Oh and remember when Halperin photoshopped a semen stain on Mary Landrieu’s head. That was great.
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I don’t want to hear this stuff now. Really. Halperin does go after Cindy McCain too in the book. Don’t care. He also attacks Elizabeth Edwards.
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This is destined to get links galore from his pal Matt Drudge, but it tells us nothing about HCR, the job market, the environment. It’s circus entertainment of the freak show variety.

Since Reid acknowledges what he said, it can be assumed true.
However, I expect the media to ga ga over this book without ever questioning its sources. The book will become an infallible source regardless of its accuracy and truth. The pundits will be tut tutting, feigning shock, and never questioning one of their own. Much like they seldom questioned Woodward’s annonymous sources and peculiar access, the villagers will bobble their heads and echo the current script.
Halperin is as accurate as Drudge and Politico.

Stephen Colbert & I are as color-blind as a white person can be, and other than using the word “Negro,” which hasn’t been part of my vocabulary for, what, 4 or 5 decades, I agree with everything Harry Reid said in his original comment. I think most savvy American political watchers would, too — whatever their color might be. It isn’t always politically correct to tell the truth, as Harry Reid did, but he was right. There was no person in this country better equipped, by both his accident of birth & his acquired skills & philosophy, to break the color barrier than was Barack Obama.

He know it, too.

The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com

P.S. The Republican hypocrites who are trying to make hay out of this are probably among the worst racial bigots in the country.

Right the first time & right the second time. Excellent points.

Agree with your first proposition, but won’t say more because it is such a slippery slope.
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Agree with the P.S. as well. Let us remember that the Repubs rose from dear obsolescence on the southern strategy which appealed to the southern Dem racists, and much of the party remains in that mind set even if most remain in the closet on the issue. No surprise to me, because to me it will always be the party of hypocracy.

Gee, all the wives of candidates turn out to be Lady MacBeths in Halperin’s telling? Sounds delightful.
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My grandmother used the term “colored.” Was just the term she grew up using. This really isn’t anything. I mean, it’s definitely embarrassing, definitely something a politician ought to know better than to say, but it isn’t actually anything.

Hopefully, this will get Reid out of the majority leader job and replaced by someone with a bit more fire.
Funny thing is it will allow the Republican’s tame black guy to keep his job as head of the RNC for a few more days, so he can get all indignant. In another words, good news for Democrats.

**Gee, all the wives of candidates turn out to be Lady MacBeths in Halperin’s telling? Sounds delightful.**

And from what I’ve read, looks like Mark Penn was a source, looking to settle scores from back in the primary. And McCain staffers looking to blame Palin for the fact that the old man picked a completely unqualified running-mate, not noticing that this makes McCain look bad. But no one in Teh Village will notice either, so I guess it’s a wash for them. Palin and her groupies are already (or still) on the warpath.

Before I came over here, just caught up with this story via Twitter. One can be grateful for only 140 characters. I refuse to read Halperin, Drudge, and don’t think much of Heilemann as a reporter.

I find it funny that we just had all that discussion of OMG Jonathan Gruber might not be a totally reliable source, but the gossipy guys are to be totally trusted. Reid may have unwisely said what he did, but as with so many things never a possibility of context. We should take the President’s statement as the end of it.

Wow, you mean Reid’s an insensitive moron? Really? I never would have guessed.

Oh give me a break — As an African American what I find the most offensive about this statement is that any division of the RNC dares to make a comment. So a warning to all right winger STFU. Don’t worry Harry black folks are too politically astute to fall for this. We’ve been Democrats too long not to know some of our older folks use older vernacular and make distinctions based on a different paradigm. We also know you mean no harm. Sorry media whores but no frenzy for you.

Harry Reid told the truth. Whites do feel more comfortable around African Americans with fairer skin, and making white Americans comfortable was going to be a major issue for a Black man who wanted to become president. Harry Reid is hardly the first 70 year old man — white or black — who uses the word Negro. That’s a generational issue, not a racist one.

What the Republican commentary doesn’t consider is that Reid was genuinely excited about Obama’s chances of becoming president. As a person of color, I find that gratifying. Sometimes when we are genuinely excited, we don’t speak in prose.

Well then let me second it for you James. Just as only Jackie Robinson could break into baseball, the first black president was going to have to have exceptional qualities. We were raised to believe that we’d have to be 10 times better just be on the same page. Thankfully, this is the case because now that our country is in two wars, in the midst of economic upheaval with an infrastructure crumbling around our ears its comforting to know such an superior candidate both philosophically, and intellectually is in charge. Of course that’s also why Chris Rock said we hadn’t come into our own as a post racial society with the election of Barack Obama, no that won’t happen until a black man as dumb as George W. Bush can get elected.

See that’s what I’m saying. In fact the most telling thing is that Harry Reid knows that Barack can do the dialect if he wants to. That’s what we call being bilingual. He obviously is in awe of Barack, and its an element never captured by SNL imitations.

“Negro” is kinda coming back in use as a retro thing. Tavis Smiley uses the word negro all the time to talk about African-American folks.

Trifecta is so right about Halperin worshipping at the feet of Matt Drudge. Who the hell cares about all that personal stuff anyway? One thing I can say is that the Democratic primary process worked really well. I would’ve been happy with any of the Dems over any of the Republicans, but we ended up with Obama and Biden, two mensches, imho.

It’s interesting to compare Obama’s reaction to this and his reaction to Trent Lott’s remarks, Jena Six case, the Henry Gates arrest and the Don Imus controversy.
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Don Imus apologized, and Obama still called for his head.
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Obama was pretty quick to racialize l’affaire Gates.
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With respect to Jena, Obama trivialized a vicious assault on a white student.
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And with Lott, Obama said that he should lose his position as Senate Majority Leader.
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It would be interesting if the press explored these issues in relation to Reid’s comments.

This will bolster Republican’s (professed) belief that black people would like their party if they only weren’t so foolish and gullible to fall for the Democratic party’s lies. Not only won’t they STFU, but they’ll briefly try to use it as a recruiting tool — “Ya’ll come! Michael Steele brought potato salad!”

Funny how political allies get a pass . . . .

My favorite recent usage was Melissa Harris-Lacewell on Rachel Maddow’s show on Friday (re: the race checkboxes on census forms) — “Negro, please!”

Yep, because using an antiquated term in praise of a black politician’s talents is the exact same thing as calling college athletes “nappy headed hoes,” or a senator claiming that a segregationist’s victory in a presidential race would have solved a lot of problems.

What precisely is a “Negro dialect”? Ebonics? Jive talkin’? Whatever it is, you have to love seeing the endless cannibilism among the race baiting racial tribalists of the Democrat party. I’m glad that such cannibilism among the race hustlers will never end.

Are you saying, Elvis, that the fact that Reid is a political ally has nothing to do with Barack Obama’s muted reaction? Ha. And while he was praising Obama’s talents, the disdain for “Negro dialects” was pretty obvious. But you just keep telling yourself that Reid’s a very different case . . . .

So what is the impact of this apology? Nil.

Reasons have been advanced to suggest that racism will always be a reality of life in the western world.

[Are the following words familiar: "pollack", "limey", "kraut", "hun", "spud" .. The words make a roaring comeback into everyday use whenever the economies of Europe sour. ]

Generally, Americans ( and Europeans) are incorrigibly racist.
And they have methodically institutionalized racism – and the duplicity needed to justify the system as a worthwhile experiment in ‘democracy’ – as if ‘democracy’ exists under racism.

Thus the talk of a “post-racial” USA was a fad or a momentary curiosity/euphoria unlike others that have a longer life.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17537720#5680393477059575520

Case in point: Look at the line-up of SWAMP bloggers to the top left. You will notice a shortage of blacks, Hispanics, Asians.. who are a significant part of our hyped “melting pot”. One may also remember that we would not have expected any woman in that lineup a few years ago.

Have women’s brains undergone a sudden leap in evolution? And still, we may wonder, why is it that only white women – according to JK’s supremacist TIME – seem to have undergone that leap in evolution.

Maybe not: Evolution does not (generally (*)) take a quantum jump defined in “a few years” and so, something else is at work.

Of course TIME and its lucky “I-toe-the-line-on-American-discrimination-du-jour” bloggers have rationalization galore.

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* “Extinction” may occur over a much shorter time span. Think about the dodo, the Australian Aborigine or the American Indian. [And we wonder what "selection" the monster Leopold of Belgium was up to when he slaughtered half the population of Congo - 10 million people - in less than five years ..]

So, this is imperical evidence Obama hates his mother and maternal grandparents. As Glenn Beck says this man hates white people like George Dubya Bush doesn’t care about black people. I guess all U.S. Presidents share one thing it’s that they’re all bigots.

Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has this to say

Bwah ha ha ha ha ha! That’s rich.

“He was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was 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,” as he said privately. Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama’s race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination.”

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Probably the least racist thing you’ll ever hear from a 70-year-old white Nevadan.

Yes, I thought her response was hilarious as well. What some folks like spob and textee don’t seem to get is that like in all things context matters. The meaning is often found there rather than their erroneous belief that like minded politics is what matters.

Sure, spob– the intent of the speaker goes a long way towards how the subject of the statement reacts. Imus’s intent was to belittle people; Reid was making a clumsy-grandpa attempt to praise someone. Of course that matters. How couldn’t it?
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And as other Real Live Authentic Black Folks on this thread have pointed out, Reid was stating the obvious: just as the first female PM of England wasn’t going to fit into (often-negative) stereotypes of women, so too was the first black president of the US not going to fit into (often-negative) stereotypes of blacks. Reid’s statement is common sense, awkwardly and embarrassingly phrased. No big deal.

When will the racist Obama issue an apology to his dead grandmother for calling her a “typical white person”?

When will the racist Obama issue an apology to the Cambridge police department for falsely alleging that they had acted “stupidly” for arresting one of Obama’s race baiting dear friends, to wit: Henry Gates?

Sorry Spob but you’re twisting your knickers over the wrong N word. This isn’t the one considered racist by most, its just antiquated. Its on the census.

In defense of the word “negro,” it does have a somewhat neutral tone, at least nowadays. While I usually use the terms “black” and “white,” there’s not a human being on earth who is either of those colors, plus they are fraught stupid Manichean symbolism. And African-American is clumsy and tied to nationality — what does a black guy who emigrates here from France call himself?

I suspect that had a Republican used the term “Negro dialect” you wouldn’t be so forgiving. That’s the bottom line here.

So, Elvis, what was Obama’s intent when he called the Jena Six assault a “schoolyard fight”?

Guys, the reality is that there is a double standard when it comes to what GOP pols say and what Dem pols say. Why don’t we start by being intellectually honest and acknowledge that?
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Does the name Cruz Bustamante ring a bell?

textee, are you a typical white person?

Sure, spob. Republicans, having run on the Southern Strategy for about a quarter century, don’t get the benefit of the doubt when they say obnoxious stuff about black people. That’s the way the world works. You wouldn’t give Michael Moore the benefit of the doubt if he called William F. Buckley an “irascible old coot,” but you would give it to some friend of his at NR. Not a surprise. And in this case, it appears that Reid used an antiquated phrase while offering a compliment. Yep, that matters. I don’t see why it’s sending you on a jihad.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater#Atwater_on_the_Southern_Strategy

Sorry, Elvis . . . . not gonna accept your invocation of the Southern Strategy and the idea that the GOP has to apologize for anything. Bottom line: by any objective measure, what Harry Reid said was unacceptable, and had a GOP pol in a similar position said the same thing, the media and you guys would be all over him/her.

I get it, Dee, when a GOP pol says something insensitive, offensive or what have you, Dems and the media pound that person. When a Dem says something like that, they’re ok because they’re on the team. That’s fine, but if you’re going to be selective in your outrage, then don’t blame people for questioning your sincerity.

Well spob I probably wasn’t as forgiving when the Republican who did use it first started the sentence with “Barack the Magic…” Obviously, you don’t think there is any difference between what Harry Reid said with his clumsy compliment and the derogatory statements constantly emanating from your side of the aisle. Perhaps if any of you had learned from the last ten times you made a watermelon joke we might cut you some more slack.

The bottom line is that it’s not at all obvious that what Reid said was malicious in intent.

Rationalize the double standard all you want . . . .
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It’s clear–there’s a double standard as between Dems and the GOP. Just as there’s a clear double standard between racialist comments by Obama and by ordinary pols.

Spob here is what you don’t seem to understand and I guess you will never understand because you need to believe that you’re side is wrongly persecuted. The truth is that your side can’t hide no matter how hard they try their disdain for people of color. Yes, it took Latinos a little longer to catch on, but the vitriol that your side let loose during the immigration debate and again during the Sotomayor confirmation sealed that deal. No one is about to give anyone from your side the benefit of the doubt because your side’s demonstrations of hate and disdain for people of color has been so thoroughly convincing. Sorry spob but the bottom line as long as teabaggers carry signs using the N word for our president, painting him in white face and as a witch doctor and Rush says the crap he says and no one from your side condemns the behavior, then it’s the hand you deserve.

As a black Democrat I’ll say you may be right. But you’re being intellectually dishonest by implying that Republicans wouldn’t have come to Harry Reid’s defense if he were a Republican. Would Trent Lott have such kind words for Strom if he hadn’t been a Republican? Would Republicans continue to harp on Robert Bird’s former membership in the KKK if he were a Republican? The real issue is partisanship. My problem with conservatives/Republicans like you and Tucker Carlson is that you portray yourselves as honest brokers and objective but you’re anything but. This is more about retaliation and tit for tat than principle. I love it when I’m on a forum and a white poster will bring up Tawana Brawley or the Duke lacrosse rape accuser as imperical proof for whatever but then I can point to Susan Smith (drowned her two boys in a canal and accused a black man) or the McCain supporter who carved a backwards B (idiot) onto her face and blamed it on a black Obama supporter (Drudge report jumped on it). We can go tit for tat. But an honest broker would see that both sides have issues.

What? This is not news. A democrat making a racially idiotic statement like this is not a story.
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Now replace that D with an R, and then you’ve got something.
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Goodbye in 2010, Harry Reid. It’s been fun!

[...] Harry Reid Apologizes To Obama – Swampland – TIME.comHarry Reid is hardly the first 70 year old man — white or black — who uses the word Negro. That’s a generational issue, not a racist one. What the Republican commentary doesn’t… [...]

Spob you’re missing the point. Because of racial improprieties in the past on the part of the GOP (which NEVER happened on the part of Democrats, of course), Republicans will always have to apologize for everything racially related, while each Democrat usually gets one or two free passes on things like this.
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It’s much easier to accept the game when you know the rules. And this is one of those rules.
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Change that D to an R next to Reid’s name and I guarantee all of you there would be calls for his resignation as majority leader.

Sure there’s partisanship component here and you’re right they act as if they are the only honest brokers. But just focusing on the merit of what Reid actually said, I think black folks hear this all the time, although I think Reid said it in a way that was the least offensive of the many ways it comes out. Usually when whites give this compliment they say “He’s so articulate” as if it is such a surprise that an educated black man would speak general American speech. Frankly, I find cutting to the chase more honorable, because most educated black folks can enter and exit neighborhood dialects at will. And frankly, what’s sad is that in 2008 he is saying that these are still stereotypes that whites need to overcome. And since the August town halls we’ve been seeing how much racial angst is still out there.

“But an honest broker would see that both sides have issues.”
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That’s probably the smartest thing I’ve seen on Swampland in a while. Democrats have their fair share of racial issues too, but to many people it’s seen as okay…because they’re Democrats. Does the name Robert Byrd ring any bells?

“Sure there’s partisanship component here and you’re right they act as if they are the only honest brokers.”
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Well, you get points for honesty.

babette, Republicans forced Lott out. What he said was unacceptable in a leader of our party. So get that right.

Unfortunately spob you don’t get any points for honesty because when it comes to the subject of race you are deliberately obtuse. I didn’t hear you say one word when your fellow Republicans made certain derogatory statements other than to tell black folks to get over it or to remind us that someone else did something too. The fact remains that the Democratic Party has had a shameful racist past and in the sixties they opted for a new direction and those racists that chose to defect rather than change their ways were eventually welcomed by the GOP. Now does this mean that all Democrats are free of racial insensitivity, of course not, but I’m going to go with the guy that’s at least trying. The GOP has made a conscious effort to embrace their bigots and as the country grows more colorful, you are going to have to live with the consequences of that decision. The teabaggers contingent is just the most recent, of course the father of the modern conservative movement William Buckley drew the line at hood wearing extremists and birchers now called birthers. Even then he knew better than to feed the fringe. Too bad, your folks didn’t learn that lesson.

Time magazine:

Rather than devoting the tiny amount of space that you have devoted to race hustling pimps like Fairy Reid and Obama, why don’t you devote some space to the global freezing crisis that is enveloping the earth? Although Al Gore failed in his attempt to steal the 2000 election, he did invent the internet, so I sure wish he knew how to create some global warming. Quickly.

Dee, you have no business questioning my views on race or calling me a hypocrite. I have forcefully denounced racism where I’ve seen it. But I am not going to play along with your nonsense about tagging the entire GOP or any movement because some unelected yahoo makes a racist comment. If you wanna play that game, fine, then you can condemn Ice Cube for the rap song “Cave Bitch”. And I am certainly not going to play the game with respect to any criticism of Obama. First of all, not all criticism of this guy is racist, and certainly questions about his place of birth aren’t ipso facto racist. Second, Obama’s wasn’t exactly above playing the race card with Hillary, and third of all, Obama isn’t exactly racially even-handed.
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And Dee, you completely clown yourself when you talk about being bilingual. Having grown up where I grew up, black vernacular isn’t exactly foreign to me. But I don’t consider myself bilingual because of it.

@ spob, Lott is no longer a registered/avowed Republican or doing work on behalf of the party? And if it hadn’t been politically convenient would he still have been “thrown” out? Anyway I’m not into the tit for tat. You’ve got a bag of grievances and I’m sorry the only thing I hold against the Republican party are their ideas not the people behind them. Believe it or not I don’t think you’re unreasonable (unlike textee who’s begging for attn with that diatribe). But I can see you want payback for people you relate to that have fallen from grace. It’s not about principle or merit. Tucker Carlson is the king of this partisan approach. I remember the morning after Pres. Obama’s inauguration Tucker Carlson was hot under the collar about the colorful and aging black pastor who gave the invocation because of that albeit ridiculous poem inserted in his prayer summarily asking “let white be right.” I was personally put off by that line too but I was genuinely flushed about what he might be implying. Carlson on the other hand wasn’t upset about the actual words or suggestion he was upset that the pastor hadn’t met the same fate that Don Imus got (which was another radio program and a Fox Business show).

Well, babette, people don’t particularly care for double standards. And there is clearly a double standard. When you’re the subject of it, and the GOP clearly is, you tend to get a little annoyed.
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And as for political convenience, perhaps Lott was a casualty of that–but most people were appalled by his comments. And Lott had a history.
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The double standard works in other ways. The GOP cannot oppose unqualified hacks like Ronnie White without being called racist.

[...] Harry Reid Apologizes To Obama – Swampland – TIME.com [...]

We shall never know if textee is white. It’s impossible to see past the white hooded robe and the fiery cross.

@ spob although I didn’t care for Pres. Bush as a leader one of the most regretful accusations about his presidency I take to heart is Kanye West’s provoked flame that Bush “didn’t care about black people” because I noticed that Bush was genuinely hurt by it. Almost every interview I’ve endured of his I noticed he would make a point to address this tag (even though he didn’t have to) especially on his goodbye tour on Larry King. It reminded me of a C-Span televised conference about Reagan (I’m 28 yo black true Dem but I’m also a geek) in which one of the late president’s historians had eerily talked about how being tagged a racist was one of Reagan’s biggest regrets. Those two things actually shaded my views about Republicans and race. It’s so complex. I don’t know what to feel. All I can say is that I kind of get it if not completely.

“Don Imus apologized, and Obama still called for his head.”

You can’t possibly be serious. Whatever you think of his choice of words, Harry Reid expressed support for Obama. Don Imus referred to a group of women as “nappy headed hos.” The statement was intended to be offensive and to belittle the women. And Imus wasn’t sorry. He was just sorry about the bad press. Such statements were part of his MO.

Obama was right about the Gates incident: The police did act stupidly to arrest a man in his home in violation of the state law. That was the reason the case was tossed. Whether it was racial is a matter of opinion, but such an opinion wouldn’t be a wild call.

Jena Six was racial on it’s face, and no we don’t need Trent Lott’s call for a do-over on segregation. There’s not way for such a statement to not be offense.

What you don’t get is that there is a difference between decent people who say foolish things and people who simply don’t like people who don’t look like them.

Spob you’re freaking amazing. Obviously, you don’t know what obtuse means otherwise you would have been offended for a different reason but I digress. I don’t believe I questioned your views and more importantly I don’t care what they are. I simply explained why Democrats get the benefit of the doubt and Republicans don’t. You are the one who attacked because you decided we were out of line for not going into a frenzy the way you decided we would have done had it been a GOP. No matter how many times we said that not all gaffes are equal and that context matters you decided we were being dishonest because you knew what was in our hearts and minds. Then when someone speaks the truth about why the GOP cannot speak to this issue and you who had the nerve to question someone else’s reaction as if they are not entitled to their own response wants to get indignant. I might not have called you a hypocrite, but you certainly did act like one with your last comment.

Babette you might do better to look at the full record on Reagan before you feel his pain. Regardless of what they may or may not feel personally, neither Reagan or Bush were opposed to denigrating black Americans in order to achieve their political goals. I would have been more sympathetic of Reagan if he wasn’t the one who gave his announcement to run at the most racially charged site he could find and if he wasn’t the one who told white America that all of their problems were the fault of the black welfare queens. Ask your new friend spob who he thinks is at fault for everything and it won’t be long before he’ll give you that spiel about transferring wealth, when the real transfer is between blue states to red states, starting with Sarah Palin’s beloved real America in Alaska. Thanks to Reagan for the last 30 years the image of black women has been badly distorted and irreparably harmed.

Dee, pump the brakes I think you’ve read enough of my posts to get that I might be a little more aware than your average bear. And as I’ve stated to my “new friend” spob I don’t do grievance politics. And while you’re holding Reagan accountable for using the black female image to embody the Welfare Queen, do you also hold our pseudo-first black Democratic President Bill Clinton responsible for verifying the Welfare Queen problem with his Republican-backed welfare reform law. And that’s funny, black women’s images have only been distorted for 30 years? And Reagan pioneered the problem? Really? Well, we owe D.W. Griffith an apology for Birth of a Nation. And Margaret Mitchell needs an apology for the criticisms against Gone With Wind as well as the producers of the film adaptation. So don’t try to revoke my black woman and Democratic cards just yet. Or my womanist;) card either.

Roland Martin on CNN said much of the black community have talked in these terms. They knew that a lighter skinned, very well spoken black man would have a better chance. He also can use black venacular. Have you ever listen to Hillary Clinton when she speaks in the south? Nothing wrong speaking to your audience.
One of the criticisms Obama gets is that he is so self-contained. Jackie Robinson gave that lesson. If Obama was more overtly passionate, the right would accuse him of being an angry black man.

spob: Can you for once not be so sensitive? The right’s fall back arguement always seems to be that Reps can’t get away with anything. The media is leftist.
It is a constant state of paranoia.
Instead of going boo hoo, make some positive contribution.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Above you will find a bigot.

I would take issue with the fact that Clinton verified the Welfare Queen problem. Clinton did what was politically expendient to aid his re-election, and poor people — of all colors — paid the price. Some have argued that removing that safety net was one of the factors that made the Katrina situation worse. If you will recall, immediately before passing Welfare Reform, Clinton stated that he would fight to overturn it. His own law.

You could argue that clinton did the same with American jobs that were sent overseas. In essence, Clinton became so Republican, that he made Bob Dole unnecessary.

Frankly, it has always annoyed me when anyone referred to Clinton as “the first Black president.” Clinton felt comfortable around Blacks. That’s not the same thing as being Black. I doubt if anyone ever asked Clinton to step out of his car and assume the position because he was driving an expensive car he owned.

By accident of his birth? What is that supposed to mean? Being born a black man is an “accident”? As though his birth as a black man is some unfortunate birth defect? I was with you until I read what I assume was an unconsciously veiled racist comment that is no better than Reid’s statements. Once again, poor choice of words!

It is the last thing they have to hold onto, textee. If they did not have the race card to toss out, then Democrats would have nothing now.
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Their, as Reid was really saying “token Negro”, has failed miserably, this is the last hoorah.
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Now perhaps we can move forward, and put this country back together again.

I am usually very polite to people who disagree with me because their retorts are generally polite, informed & sincere. But I must say I find galling the sheer stupidity of thinking the term “accident of birth” — which applies to EVERYBODY’s birth — is some subconscious racist thing. To accuse me of racism for being familiar with standard English-language idiom is pathetic. As far as I know, I’m mostly one race, but I most certainly have referred to my own “accident of birth” dozens of times over the course of my long life, just as I have used the term to refer to many other people of whatever background. You owe me an apology, maweni. And please think long & hard before you again ascribe ulterior motives to another person whom you don’t know — it’s a disgusting, anti-social habit.

The Constant Weader

I interpreted your comment differently and I am free to express my discontent with your statement. I don’t owe an apology for expressing my opinion.

I just have a few things to say, then I’m out:
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1. A number of my friends and family will “shift gears” so to speak, depending on whether their audience is white or black.
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2. Reid was making a rather crass valuation of that gift.
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3. Reid was pointing to the fact that that particular gift was a political asset, which, I’m sure, if Obama didn’t posses it, would have had it used against him forcefully be the GOP.
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4. I’m not happy with Reid, but he apologized.
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5. However, however, however!
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What of the fact that the GOP has serious problems with it’s racial image due to the fact that the two most prominent icons of that party spew intentional and egregious racial hatred every day?
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At this point, I will say that before any GOPer on this blog complains about the fact they are frequently tarred in racist terms, they had best take responsibility for their leader’s actions and clean their own house!
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That is all.

I think Reid said: “The sheriff is near.”

Spob:
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Even more relevant might be to ask this question:
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With your top two leaders spouting unfettered racial hatred every day, why is it that you insist on avoiding your responsibility, as a conservative, to clean your own house first?
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After all, it is quite a bit dirtier than ours.
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You can doubt me all you want, so instead, just ask people in the Black community just why they won’t touch the GOP…

Appolyon07:
1. Observer top spokespeople for GOP. Next:
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2. First, rewind to 1972. Observe.
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3. Next, rewind to 1964. Observe.
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4. Next rewind to 1930. Observe.
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You will find at point 1, an unpleasant, yet valid reason just why the GOP is seen in the light it is. Black community consensus:
97% to 3% GOP
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At point 2, you will observe the end of the immigration of many into the GOP from the Democratic Party. Black community consensus:
70% to 30% GOP
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At point 3, you will observe that the GOP was favored. Black community consensus:
40% to 60% GOP
.
At point 4, you will observe a different phenomena altogether:
Black community consensus:
80% to 20% GOP
.
Now, the question is for you and spob, is why did this change take place?

Woops.
.
20% to 80% GOP

Absolutely I do. I am not a Bill Clinton Devotee. Never mind the welfare bill, his crime bill did more to harm the black community than any advantages we accrued from his administration’s diversity. While I recognize that Bill Clinton got a lot of props in the black community because he was the first president that didn’t seem like he wanted to wash his hands after shaking a black one. And I know that you get a lot of this, but you are also young and so much of the Reagan legacy being discussed today is based on fantasy. Republicans should be given great credit for their ability to revise history as well as they do, but if you are a student of real history then you know that Reagan was not the beloved figure he is portrayed to be. And this isn’t about grievances, this is about very real policy and rhetoric that hurt the black community and knowing that they did it solely for political gain makes it especially egregious.

Wait!
.
I wanted to be the “typical white person!”

I have not seen so much spinning since the Daytona 500. and backflips that Nadia Comaneci would be proud.

First you get the typical attack the messenger (Halperin) and then the ever famous it was taken out of context. Then any response a conservative gets twisted (accident of birth) to have a return serve of the racism charge.

Or one of my favorites, a liberal telling a conservative not to be so sensitive. That is the equivalent of Bill Clinton telling someone to not be so horny.

George Snuffalupagus adds to the comedy routine by emphasizing what Dingy Harry said was in a “Private” conversation which implies liberals can and are racist in private and that’s OK- it keeps them elected.

Then we have a “are you a typical white person” question trying to have a gottcha moment to label someone a racist. The nature of the question confirms the questioner is in fact the racist.

A whole industry have grown around offering full employment to those who destroy enemies by lobbing racist grenades and offering teflon vests to political friends.

And that’s the reality.

Steele gets it right today–there is a double standard, and it’s high time the press noted the issue. Obama benefits from a double standard. It needs to end.

Boo Hoo. There you go again. Everybody picks on the Republicans. Mom loves the Democrats best.

spob: How many times in this posting have you stated how poor Republicans are picked on…
That is about as reliable an agruement as the use of the war on Christmas, the liberal media, and other cliche reasons Republicans have when they have no rationale for their points of view.
My question to Republicans, to paraphrase Matthews, what have you done for us lately? Say the last 20 years.

I have a black friend who (surprise, is intelligent and ARTICULATE) when speaking to other black people at work uses a vernacular that is spiced with a cadance and words that are different than when she speaks to me.
I went to her husband’s funeral and was impressed that the service was so different than what I had experienced in majority white churches.
My parents were 1st generation Americans. All of my relatives were middle European. If you came to one of our family gatherings, you would have felt a little confused by the references and dialogue. Yet, they were and are intelligent and articulate.

spob: Why do you bother typing the same response? Just cut and paste.

not gonna accept your invocation of the Southern Strategy and the idea that the GOP has to apologize for anything
-
So, spob, you’re ok with politicians exploiting racism and racial tension in order to win votes? Or are you just unaware of what the southern strategy is/was? Because you can;t be opposed to that idea and believe that the Rs have nothing to apologize for. That’s the sort of BS that makes a lot of non-Rs think your party is racist.

It’s true. Steele makes that point in the book he wrote last summer before he was RNC Chair.
.
I love Michael Steele almost as much as he hates the republicans.

So since Mark wrote the book, “Reid” did not need to run call Obama?
Is that right?

Yes, he is……..and “Nancy Pelosi” is just as nice…and how about that Charles Rangel????

He has the best job. He chairs’ the committee that writes the tax laws and here he is a big ‘tax cheat’

But then look at good old Timothy Geithner……now we are hearing he wanted AIG to wait to tell us about that 165 million in bonuses…..”.up to his old tricks”……

i think we have more to worry about that what Reid said.

Oh, my goodness, Old Reid did not say anything to “apologize for.

Why do people just look for things to start slinging mud?

Look at when Obama was looking for his girls a dog, he said “we may get a “mutt” like me………now if I had said that ……………..oh, would you Democrats or Republicans have a field day?

Get over it and stop the name calling you “PARTY”
lovers.

Yep, all this is name calling…………………

Not good in a leader, it teaches those following him to do the same…..

All you have to do is read all these “Post”

My mother would wash you mouths out………

Not good.

Better watch who you follow……….

“spob” you are right,

People, better watch who you follow.

May end up on “welfare” or working for “Acorn”

“Dee in Columbi”
You choose to see only what you want to see.
President Bush tried to put the first Latino in the SC and the Democrats would not let him.
You need to check your facts.
Your are blind to your Party.

I hope to see in time that we have a leader of all the people ……………..I don ‘t think it will be your party. or the Republican.

I feel obligated to comment on your “typical white person” comment. First of all I have to say I only saw the comment one time, so the whole issue may be much ado about nothing. But you’ve labeled something as racist that may not have been intended as such.
-
I would read such a comment to mean “the average white person’s understanding” of a situation. That’s probably more ill informed than racist. And if we are honest, I don’t suspect that whites spend a lot of time trying to understand blacks or any other minority. That is probably less about whites being racist than it does with a lack of necessity.
-
Let’s be clear about something. Me saying that you are ill informed about factors that affect my life doesn’t make me racist any more that a woman repeating the same statement to a man is sexist. It’s just an opinion. You can agree with it or not.

Here’s an excerpt from the Sunday morning yak fest. This one features George Will defending Reid from Liz Cheney:
..
WILL: I don’t think there’s a scintilla of racism in what Harry Reid said. At long last, Harry Reid has said something that no one can disagree with, and he gets in trouble for it.

WILL: Oh, my, no.

Hey I am with you………………….
Join us “fair tax” people………………
We want less tax more jobs.
Unions killed our big business’ in America and big tax are killing our small business’

We need to clean CONGRESS out…………….”all”

Me too……….we have been freezing for three weeks.

I too was put off by that line “let white be right”

People white, black, red or yellow should think before the speak. How many others were offended by that? How sad. i chose not to hear it. but it was said. I looked on it as I did Rev. Wrights cursing America.

My mother would have never said something like that, She set a good example, one which I don’t always remember

I have to say that I am amazed by the hype over a poorly worded comment of praise. And I am confused by who is doing the hype.
-
CNN contacted AL Sharpton, and his reaction is pretty much that of most blacks. The statement was poorly worded, but the sentiment was clear. He looks forward to working with Reid in the future. Since Sharpton doesn’t have anything negative to say, the media isn’t interested anymore. Ditto for Jesse Jackson.
-
The media has air time to fill, so I understand their interest in keeping this an issue. But what is up with the rest of white America? I am truly curious. The comment was made about African Americans, and, with the exception of Michael Steele, we aren’t offended. In fact, it made perfect sense to me. Assessing the fact that Obama will be more acceptable to white American because he wasn’t very dark, and spoke like a Harvard graduate was common sense. Blacks already knew that having fair skin can be a real asset. (REally, now, how many blue-black African Americans TV anchors can you recall?)
-
If we aren’t offended, why are you? And some of you have the audicity to be annoyed with us because we aren’t offended! When did I lose the right to determine what is offensive to me? Are these the same people who complain about “blacks turning everything into a race issue?”
-
African Americans represent a larger percent of the unemployed, make up most of the prison population, have poorer access to health care, get poorer health care service even when we have the same coverage. And this is the “racist” hill where white American wants to plant it’s flag? Who the hell cares what Harry Reid said about Barack Obama two years ago? Correction. Harry Reid said that he could be leader of the free world. Who cares HOW he said it?
-
This isn’t an idle rant. Some one please enlighten me. What am I missing?

well, I can’t speak for everyone, but here’s my impression.
-
One: The media needs/wants as many stories, preferably loaded with dirt and sleaze, to report on. This is just one more tempest in a teapot that will be gone in a couple week after the media milks it for all it’s worth.
-
Two; it’s about Reid, who is not only a relatively important pol but one who’s under re-election pressure.
-
and Three, the Rs want to do everything they can to distract people from their own problems and nuts. The more the Ds stay in the news, the less time there is for their own circus to go on.

tjoyce994

“First of all I have to say I only saw the comment one time, so the whole issue may be much ado about nothing.”

It is part of a much longer dialogue here where folks on the left try to twist and turn every statement by a conservative into a racist rant.

And you deciding soemone is ill informed based on your view can be both racist and ill-informed.

“It is part of a much longer dialogue here where folks on the left try to twist and turn every statement by a conservative into a racist rant.”
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Freeinpa, you are really paranoid. If you can tone it down just a tad, you will see that my comment was neither racist or ill-informed. My original statement was “Me saying that you are ill informed ABOUT FACTORS THAT AFFECT MY LIFE doesn’t make me racist any more that a woman repeating the same statement to a man is sexist. It’s just an opinion. You can agree with it or not.”
-
Now, why would you even profess to be well informed about a total stranger’s life, and why would a sane person be offended by the notion that they aren’t?
-
And tonight, it seems to be the conservatives that see a racist around every corner.

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