Free Republic

Leadership: The top Senate Democrat has exposed the hypocrisy of modern liberalism through his racially insensitive remarks. Trent Lott lost his post for humoring an old man. How will Robert Byrd's party honor him? Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has called for the resignation of Harry Reid as Senate majority leader over remarks published in a new book calling then-presidential candidate Barack Obama a "light-skinned" black man "with no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one." If the Lott standard still applies, Reid should step down. Reid's propensity to shoot from the lip is legendary. He recently compared...

The Rev. Al Sharpton on Monday said he was disturbed by condescending remarks reportedly made by former President Bill Clinton about Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign. Sharpton was referring to a passage in the new book, "Game Change," which recounts the conversation Clinton had with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy when he was trying to convince the liberal lion of the Senate to endorse his wife for president. "A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee," Clinton told Kennedy, according to the book -- a comment that angered Kennedy, who later endorsed Obama. Sharpton, speaking...

From The New York Daily News Bill Clinton helped sink his wife’s chances for an endorsement from Ted Kennedy by belittling Barack Obama as nothing but a race-based candidate. “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee,” the former president told the liberal lion from Massachusetts, according to the gossipy new campaign book, “Game Change.”The book says Kennedy was deeply offended and recounted the conversation to friends with fury. After Kennedy sided with Obama, Clinton reportedly griped, “the only reason you are endorsing him is because he’s black. Let’s just be clear.”

"I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little Laundromat in a black community not far from where he lived. I saw it all growing up." He also says that everything that Barack Obama says comes from a teleprompter....demonstrating at least a little accuracy in Blagojevich's statements!

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Never mind that he said it. That’s okay.Obama has forgiven him, so has Al Sharpton. Never mind that the quick forgiveness is most assuredly politically-based given that Obama needs Reid to force-feed health care reform to the American people and Harry is more than willing to do so. The real issue according to Reid is not what he said, but that he got caught.

Here is video of an NAACP representative on Fox News today where he defended Sen. Harry Reid as a "champion for Civil Rights." This despite comments by Reid were revealed in a new book where he said Barack Obama could be accepted by the American people because he is "light-skinned" and because he has "no Negro Dialect" unless he wants to have one. Reid made the remarks privately during the 2008 Campaign. The NAACP Rep. said that Reid's words were "awkward, but not "offensive." "The way he said it was quite awkward, but nonetheless, not offensive. That what he said...

A new book about the 2008 presidential election has made quite a stir with its revelation that Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) chose some, shall we say, unfortunate wording when referring to then candidate Barack Obama in some "private" discussions with reporters during the late presidential campaign. In the book Game Change penned by John Heilemann and Mark Halprin, Harry Reid is quoted as saying that people supported Obama because he was "light skinned," and because he exhibited no "Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." This implies that Reid thinks dark skinned Negroes cannot win election....

It may not have been PC, but the majority leader may simply have been honest about how voters react to skin color.CNN is aflutter. Bloggers are calling it a "big-time" mistake. Newspapers describe the "racially tinged" remarks as "sensational." What is this "juicy revelation"? Apparently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid privately told two journalists in 2008 that Obama was more electable because he's "light-skinned" and lacked a "Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." With the publication of Reid's impolitic quote in the new book Game Change, journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin have landed a PR coup. By...

Republican leader Steele: Reid should resign over remarks...

Texas Sen. John Cornyn today became the first member of the Republican congressional leadership to call for Nevada Sen. Harry Reid to step down as Senate Majority Leader. Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said that Reid's 2008 description of Barack Obama as a "light skinned" candidate "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," quoted in a newly released book, disqualify the embattled Nevadan from serving as the Senate's leader. The Texas Republican -- along with other GOP officials -- accused top Democrats of having a double-standard: demanding the resignation of then-Majority Leader Trent...

WASHINGTON -- Republicans called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to resign his leadership post over remarks he made in 2008 about then-presidential candidate Barack Obama, adding to the Nevada Democrat's political troubles. Harry Reid's Apology1:58President Obama accepts Senate majority leader Harry Reid's apology for his racial remarks. Video courtesy of Fox News. . Mr. Reid, who supported Mr. Obama's candidacy, said in private remarks during the campaign that the country was ready for a "light-skinned" African-American president with "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." The remarks are recounted in a new book, "Game Change: Obama and...

Harry Reid's racist comments involving Obama are only the latest in a long line of racism from the Democrats. Though the "conventional" wisdom is that the GOP is the racist party made up of old, white, Christian men exclusively, a quick examination of some pretty prominent Democrats both past and present convincingly affirms that the Democrats don't only harbor racists in their party—they all-out condone them. Of course, this is totally at odds with the "conventional" wisdom because the liberal media covers it up so heavily.

"The suggestion here is that the American public, being racist, would not accept someone who talked like an African-American and who was particularly dark-skinned. That really does amount to an accusation of racism against the American people."

The nation’s first elected African-American governor said on Sunday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) should apologize to the entire country for his comments about President Barack Obama’s skin color. “The Reid apology should be to the totality of the American people,” said Doug Wilder, former Virginia governor, on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The unfortunate thing is that one snippet … illustrates the need for more open discussion about race.” Wilder was referring to comments that were published in a new book, "Game Change," in which Reid is quoted as having said that the president had a good...

I knew eventually that the Democratic party’s leadership being infiltrated by Mormons would hurt us. I have made clear I believe Mormonism to be a racist, sexist, homophobic, fraudulent, and bizarre cult so if you’re coming in late and are astounded that I make no apology for my views, well…you’re coming in late. Reid is clearly letting his Mormon beliefs override good sense, assuming he has any Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is making my worst fears a reality. How this man got to be Senate Majority Leader is a mystery to me but he needs to go. Reid is clearly...

Harry Reid is the shame of the Senate. And it hard not to bathe in schadenfreude at the hammering he is now getting over an interview he gave to John Heilemann and Mark Haperin during 2008 for their new book Game Change in which he enthused that Barack Obama was electable because he was “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” But it is also hard not to be disgusted by the politically correct sanctimony of Republicans like the RNC’s Michael Steele who are acting as if they just caught the Nevada senator in...

Democrats are preparing to throw the race card back in the laps of Republicans as part of a counter attack 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...

So who does the Today Show march out to discuss Harry Reid's racist comments about Obama? Harold Ford and Gwen Ifill who both, of course, found no fault with Reid's comments. Then Chuck Todd, in his infinite wisdom, pointed out that the Dems have to support Reid to get their agenda passed. He also noted the Dems and Reid "owned up" to the comments and apologized so they're hoping the crucial 48 hour period will lapse and we peons will forgive and forget.

The Senate majority leader didn't say anything many Americans -- especially us Negroes -- don't already know. If you're black, it is easier in this country to be light-skinned. If anyone is insulted, it should be whites -- whom Reid accused implicitly of being willing to vote for a black man only if he talks like them and is not too black. I think the next apology ought to come from Michael Steele -- the light-skinned, dialectically flexible African American head of the Republican National Committee. Either Steele is playing politics with a combustible case, or he thinks Americans are...