I understand all that and I think he should have known better than to say it, but my point is that it still isn't a racist thing to say. At worst it is insensitive. There was no malice in the statement, no basis in hate, etc. This is in no way akin to Trent Lott's statement (even though I don't believe Lott himself was racist).
Then we're in agreement. Although, not necessarily on Lott. I don't remember the details, but from what I do remember I don't know if it was that obvious Lott was trying to say it would be better if the country was segregated. I thought he was just paying a general compliment to Thurmond. But I might be wrong.
It's probable that Lott only meant to pay a general compliment to Thurmond, but seeing as how the basis of Thurmond's presidential bid was segregation, that is definitely something that is offensive.
Reid basically just called Obama the modern day equivelant of a "house negro"... If this were anyone but a democrat saying this he would be asked to step down and lamabasted by the media... How do you spell hypocrit? L-I-B-E-R-A-L E-L-I-T-E
Comparisons between this and the Lott comment are just silly. There is an ocean of difference between the comments. I do believe that had Reid been a Republican, there would be a tremendous ****storm brewing.
I find it hilarious that libs like Sharpton are defending Reid and Republicans are crying race when everything is usually the opposite. Usually it's the dems making a big brouhaha and conservatives screaming PC! PC! PC! It's all b.s. There's no racism here. You want racism. How about getting discriminated based on the color of your skin? What the hell is racist here? Geez, give me a break.
Why do you think that? Can you cite any actual examples of a Republican being unfairly accused of racism?
I agree. I think it does go both ways. For instance, if Clinton had proposed the medicare drug thing that #43 passed, everybody would have cried "socialist" 'till they turned blue in the face and held a protest vigil on the White House lawn. Dubbya does it and nobody blinks twice. There are certain stereotypes of liberal and conservative behavior that both sides need to pay attention to avoiding in order to not get bogged down in America's collective psyche.
Are you kidding? Republicans/Conservatives are consistently slandered as inherently racist. They don't even have to say something along the lines of what Reid did for the brigade of Leftists to tell us what they really mean by their comments and stances. Specific example off the top of my head: Joe Wilson. Maureen Dowd went as far as to slap an *unspoken* "boy" onto his outburst.
To a certain extant I agree that there is some hypocrisy but the Rep Wilson example is a poor one considering Wilson's history on civil rights and other racially tinged issues as compared to Reid's.
Because that is the level and tone at which this man addressed the President of the United States. Do you honestly think that Joe Wilson would have felt comfortable enough and superior enough to a white President to shout that same thing? Joe Wilson was a supporter of keeping the Confederate flag as part of their state flag. Joe Wilson accused Strom Thurmond's black daughter of "smearing" Strom by simply coming out and admitting that Thurmond was her father. Why is it a smear for a black daughter to admit that? Joe Wilson has a past of racist activities, and Reid doesn't. It isn't unthinkable to believe that Wilson's disrespect for a Black President had something to do with race.
The confederate flag itself is only history. But South Carolina only adopted it as part of its state flag in 1962. It was a reaction to the Civil Rights movement, and meant directly as an affront to it. So the confederate flag as part of the South Carolina flag flying over the state capitol wasn't done to recognize the history but rather to slap civil rights in the face. You are also ignoring the point about Wilson accusing Strom Thurmond's own daughter of smearing him by simply acknowledging that he was her father. Bottom line is that we are still waiting for someone to come up with an example of a non-racism by a Republican of being accused as racism.
While I can't uncork some examples with links, I remember back in the 1960's a few Republicans being accused of betraying "the White race" for their support of Civil Rights. Not exactly the same thing, but ball park, if you ask me. Guys like Everett Dirksen, the Senate Minority Leader at the time, who was crucial to getting the Civil Rights Bill passed in the Senate and got a lot of grief for it. I miss that Republican Party, one that had moderates, liberals, as well as conservatives as members, all under the proverbial "big tent." Would that we had that GOP today. Far from it.
A little personal story, I work in Houston but in my company I deal with sales people all over. I deal with this one guy in Chicago, I finally met him after about 10 phone conversations and was totally shocked to find out he was black on the other hand there was this woman in Baltimore, whom I was in the same situation, both of them came down here for a sales conference. I absolutely knew she was black, however she turned out not looking how i imagined.
it'd be nice to have that democratic party back as well, one that was obsessed with justice, not entitlement.
