Washington hypocrisy. Sometimes it’s so thick you can cut it with a butter knife.
From the imagine-if-a-Republican-had-said-that department, the Politico reports that Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Harry Reid, said President Obama defeated John McCain in 2008 because of this:
Remember in 2002 when people like Mr. Reid spewed such high quantities of pseudo-outrage that it eventually forced Republican Trent Lott to resign from the Senate leadership merely for wishing a 100 year old former segregationist a happy birthday?
Well, no word yet from the party of former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan Senator Robert Byrd¹ whether or not Senator Reid will receive similar treatement for his “racist” remarks.²
Footnotes:
¹ In 1944, Byrd wrote the following letter to segregationist Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo:
I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side… Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.
² Actually, I don’t think Mr. Reid’s remarks are racist nor do I think he is a racist. But likewise, I don’t think Trent Lott’s off the cuff comments about Strom Thurmond are racist. What I know is there is a vile double standard when it comes to Washington D.C. slips of the tongue. Think about it, are Reid’s comments really less offensive than shouting “you lie” to the President during his address to Congress? Do you think we’ll see a similar effort from principled Democrats to censure Mr. Reid any time in the near future? Me neither.
6 responses so far ↓
1 Terri Bey // Jan 10, 2010 at 8:22 am
What i find more ofensive about mr. Ried’s remark’s is not particalarly the reference to the negro dialect, but more so the reference to the statement about president obama’s ability to become elected just because he is a ” slightly lighter shade”. What he is saying is that ” COLOR DOES SLILL MATTER”, and these are the word’s of a demacrat who the african american community continue’s to follow with unflinching loyalty. And if your wondering’ yes i’am an african american woman who vote’s indipendently for the candidate that i believe is qualified for the job and no other reason whether that candidate be republican or democrat.
2 Peter // Jan 11, 2010 at 10:52 am
Terri,
Thanks for the comment.
From what I understand, even in the black community there is a caste system based on skin tone. Did you ever see Spike Lee’s movie Jungle Fever?
As long as humans have eyes to see, I suppose physical attributes – including skin color and other so-called racial markers – will play a factor in peoples choices.
Think about it, is it any less insidious for a man to say that he is attracted to blonde-haired, blue-eyed women than for him to say that he is attracted to fair-skinned women?
Regarding the comments made by Senator Reid, sometimes people say stupid things, it doesn’t make them racists. If it did, we’d probably all be racists.
But understanding that I myself might make a slip of the tongue in the future, I should be very careful before castigating others who have made slips of the tongue.
Seems to me Harry Reid is being hoisted by his own petard.
3 ob // Jan 11, 2010 at 9:05 pm
I am offended (as a AAW)because there are “Negros”” (as Reid likes to call us) ,in Africa, Germany, Canada and UK etc. Do we all speak the same dialect? NO! Because there is no such thing as NEGRO DIALECT. Some in the black community are okay with this tenure, as if every black person fits into this category of negro dialect , we are a diverse people and we should not just roll over and pretend that we fit like a puzzle piece into some neat little stereotype, of what Reid and others like him feel we should. “Talking white” (educated) or Negro dialects (uneducated) are all generalizations? And ,they should not be tolerated as facts(about the black race), rather you refer to it a Negro dialect or Ebonics it falls under stereotype.
4 Peter // Jan 12, 2010 at 10:27 am
Ob,
And some white men can jump!
5 JT // Jan 12, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Peter,
Your comments realated to describing the contrast between the two Senators comments have an insensitive or ignorant bent to them. You wrote Trent Lott “merely for wishing a 100 year old former segregationist a happy birthday?” Give me a break Pete!
You are obviously a man of enough intellegence to understand the difference between Lott stating that this country would have been better off if an unapologetic white supremacist would have been elected president and the obvious truth that Reid spoke about Obama’s electability among Blacks and Whites. I agree with “Ob” above that there is no Negro dialect, but everyone knows what type of broken English Reid was referring to (and that doesn’t give him an automatic pass).
The deeper one must analyze the comment to glean something racist from it, deminishes the racist intent. If you don’t want to understand the difference, just say that and defend your position, but don’t pretend you don’t understand.
6 Peter // Jan 12, 2010 at 11:10 pm
JT,
Apparently you didn’t read footnote number 2 to my post in which I clearly state that I don’t think Harry Reid’s comments were racist.
As for Trent Lott, the assertion that when he said that America would be better off had Strom Thurmond won in 1948 that he was calling for a return to the days of segregation and Jim Crow is absurd.
All he was doing was being nice to an old man on his birthday. It was an impromptu comment designed to make a one hundred year old man feel good. I doubt that Mr. Lott gave the comment even two seconds consideration before he said it.
Incidentally, what excuses do you make for the Exalted Cyclops, Robert Byrd, holding such an exalted position in the Democratic party? I saw that man on TV a few years back talking about “white niggers.” He gets a pass, too. And you know why? Because he’s in the right political party.
There’s a double standard my friend and if you don’t see it’s only because you haven’t removed your blinders.
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