I want to say this about my state: 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.Trent Lott resigned from his position as Senate Majority Leader, and I was rather happy to see the helmet-haired pantywaist fall by the wayside.
Now we have Harry Reid, who is quoted in a soon-to-be-released book about the 2008 presidential election campaign as saying about then-candidate Barack Obama that Obama had a chance of winning the presidency because he was "light skinned" and spoke with no "Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
It has been fun watching the left tie themselves in knots as they attempt to defend and/or justify Senator Reid's bigoted remarks. I was listening to a soundbite of the so-called Reverend Al Sharpton on the radio this morning where he excused Reid because his remarks were made as a compliment to Obama, so what's the problem? Wow! If that's the case, does that mean I can sing the praises of our light-skinned Negro president who doesn't sound like a Negro? Sharpton himself let me know that I am in the clear. Unlike the most powerful member of the U.S. Senate, I refuse to stoop there.
I have also found amusement by reading what then-Illinois State Senator Obama had to say about Trent Lott in 2002:
"It seems to be that we can forgive a 100-year-old senator for some of the indiscretion of his youth, but, what is more difficult to forgive is the current president of the U.S. Senate (Lott) suggesting we had been better off if we had followed a segregationist path in this country after all of the battles and fights for civil rights and all the work that we still have to do... The Republican Party itself has to drive out Trent Lott. If they have to stand for something, they have to stand up and say this is not the person we want representing our party."Not surprisingly, Obama has accepted Reid's apology - he obviously was not swayed by Lott's multiple apologies - and has suggested that we should all move on.
My biggest chuckle of the day came this morning when Mike Gallagher, on his daily radio show, sought clarification from Hillary Clinton as to what constitutes a "Negro" dialect. He played the following clip:
Alan Colmes generously called that a "southern accent." I don't think that was exactly what Hillary was going for.
In all seriousness, I would love to just look at Dirty Harry's remarks as a tempest in a teapot and, yes, move on. The problem is that you know that if these remarks had come from the lips of a conservative, you would never hear the end of it from the media or the leftist politicians and pundits. What's good for the Republican Senator from Mississippi is good for the Democrat Senator from Nevada. If we on the right don't start standing up from ourselves and demanding the same pound of flesh from the left that they demand of us; if continue to bend to their will and let double standards stand, then we might as well just pack it in. With that in mind, Dirty Harry Reid needs to step down from his leadership position, if not the Senate.
Good Day to You, Sir
8 comments:
I have to disagree with you here, Chanman, and not just because you posted the Bee-Gees lyrics on my blog.
Any reasonable interpretation of Lott's comments showed a support of segregation. The worse I can come up with regarding Reid is he used the word "Negro", which is the word Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, and Dr. King all used to describe themselves. There's a link at the Eisenhower Library web site of the telegram to Eisenhower from the "parents of the nine Negro students"--the Little Rock Nine. It's not a term of disparagement, it's just an outdated word (like calling someone Oriental instead of "Asian").
And it's hard to argue that Obama's glibness, at least with a teleprompter, helped get him elected. I don't know about the light skin part, but not speaking like he's from the ghetto certainly didn't hurt.
The Senate Democrats hand-picked Obama for one reason - his electability. According to Reid, Obama's light skin and lack of dialect made him highly electable. He was the masculine form of Vanessa Williams.
I agree with Darren here. As I read your post I did not see Reid's comment as equivilant to Lott's. However, I do understand your point that Lefties usually get a pass when it comes to mis-statements.
I think the conservatives ought to be working very quietly in the background, deceiving the Left into thinking that we are asleep, and then, like a hybernating bear, show our visciousness. Give the Left just enough rope (no racial pun intended) . . .
George
You just have to ask yourself if the Dems would be calling for the head of a Republican who said the same thing that Reid did.
Of course they would.
As long as that's the case, we cannot let these double standards continue.
As I have said on a number of blogs, what Reid said was not racist in itself, but it DID suggest that the American voters were racist.
Ha! Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense. /sarc.
And thank you for insulting the American electorate.
Typical Donalbain...
I did not say anything about the american electorate. My point was that Harry Reid said something about the American electorate. Namely his comment suggested that HE BELIEVES that they would not vote for a dark skinned "negro", who had an accent, but they would vote for a light skinned one. That reads to me as an accusation of racism, rather than a racistcomment. Sorry if your reading comprehension was too limited to understand that. Typical Chanman.
Oh, I see. So just to make sure we're clear here, you will affirm that you don't believe the American electorate to be racist?
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