Duh!!!

[Chicopee John]

MLK Jr.'s Niece Doesn't See Compliment in Reid's 'Negro Dialect' Comment

 

FOXNews.com

 

The Rev. Al Sharpton, the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP all jumped to the defense of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after his controversial remarks about President Obama, but the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. is calling Reid's comments "sadly outrageous."

 

"If Michael Steele or any other conservative had said anything like it, the remarks would be labeled racist and plastered over every available news outlet," Alveda King said in a statement released Tuesday.

 

"What would my uncle and my father think, to hear such things from one of the most powerful leaders in the country? Their 'beloved community' is sorely threatened when racism rears its ugly head once again."

 

Sen. Russ Fiengold did his own soul searching after Reid was quoted in a book saying candidate Barack Obama in 2008 could benefit from being light-skinned and not having a "Negro dialect" unless he wants one. Feingold told a local television station late Monday that he's still mulling whether Reid should stay or step down as majority leader.

 

"I'm thinking about that and we're going to be getting together as a caucus next week, and that topic will come up. I have not decided whether these comments merit that or not," Feingold told ABC affiliate WISN. "They're very unfortunate. They should have never been said. So I need to think about it."

 

But on Tuesday, he closed rank around the embattled leader. An aide to Feingold told Fox News the Wisconsin senator communicated through a senior member of his staff to Reid that he backs him as majority leader and is no longer unsure if Reid should remain in that position.

 

Some progressives bloggers, however, fearing Reid is a liability, said he should step down now so Democrats have a better chance of keeping the Nevada Senate seat in November. And while Reid reportedly called RainbowPush head Jesse Jackson to apologize after the gaffe was reported, Jackson has been uncharacteristically quiet on the racially tinged matter.

 

Reid said Monday that he "could have used a better choice of words," and he signaled that he's moving on.

 

"We have a lot to do," Reid said. "I feel good about people reaching out to me. I've apologized to the president. ... I'm not going to dwell on this anymore."

 

Other leading Democrats, including President Obama, have accepted Reid's apology, while conceding that he used inappropriate language. But critics say it's not Obama who needs an apology but Americans who Reid presumed would hesitate to vote for a black man.

 

Steele, the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, is among those Republicans calling for Reid to step down. He and others say Democrats are operating by a double-standard, since they were insistent that former Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott step down in 2002 after he praised the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a former segregationist, at his 100th birthday party.

 

Feingold said Lott's remarks were more insensitive than Reid's.

 

Obama, in an interview with TV One, called Reid a "stalwart champion ... of civil rights" and a "good man" who meant no offense.

 

"For him to have used some inartful language in trying to praise me, and for people to try to make hay out of that makes absolutely no sense," Obama said. "He apologized, recognizing that he didn't use appropriate language, but there was nothing mean-spirited in what he had to say and he's always been on the right side of the issues."

 

Nevada's other senator, John Ensign, a Republican, said Monday that lawmakers should accept Reid's apology. Republican Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, said a determination on Reid's fate should be made among Nevada voters and the Democratic caucus, respectively.

 

[DieHardBrownsFan]

MLK Jr.'s Niece Doesn't See Compliment in Reid's 'Negro Dialect' Comment

 

FOXNews.com

 

The Rev. Al Sharpton, the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP all jumped to the defense of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after his controversial remarks about President Obama, but the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. is calling Reid's comments "sadly outrageous."

 

"If Michael Steele or any other conservative had said anything like it, the remarks would be labeled racist and plastered over every available news outlet," Alveda King said in a statement released Tuesday.

 

"What would my uncle and my father think, to hear such things from one of the most powerful leaders in the country? Their 'beloved community' is sorely threatened when racism rears its ugly head once again."

 

Sen. Russ Fiengold did his own soul searching after Reid was quoted in a book saying candidate Barack Obama in 2008 could benefit from being light-skinned and not having a "Negro dialect" unless he wants one. Feingold told a local television station late Monday that he's still mulling whether Reid should stay or step down as majority leader.

 

"I'm thinking about that and we're going to be getting together as a caucus next week, and that topic will come up. I have not decided whether these comments merit that or not," Feingold told ABC affiliate WISN. "They're very unfortunate. They should have never been said. So I need to think about it."

 

But on Tuesday, he closed rank around the embattled leader. An aide to Feingold told Fox News the Wisconsin senator communicated through a senior member of his staff to Reid that he backs him as majority leader and is no longer unsure if Reid should remain in that position.

 

Some progressives bloggers, however, fearing Reid is a liability, said he should step down now so Democrats have a better chance of keeping the Nevada Senate seat in November. And while Reid reportedly called RainbowPush head Jesse Jackson to apologize after the gaffe was reported, Jackson has been uncharacteristically quiet on the racially tinged matter.

 

Reid said Monday that he "could have used a better choice of words," and he signaled that he's moving on.

 

"We have a lot to do," Reid said. "I feel good about people reaching out to me. I've apologized to the president. ... I'm not going to dwell on this anymore."

 

Other leading Democrats, including President Obama, have accepted Reid's apology, while conceding that he used inappropriate language. But critics say it's not Obama who needs an apology but Americans who Reid presumed would hesitate to vote for a black man.

 

Steele, the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, is among those Republicans calling for Reid to step down. He and others say Democrats are operating by a double-standard, since they were insistent that former Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott step down in 2002 after he praised the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a former segregationist, at his 100th birthday party.

 

Feingold said Lott's remarks were more insensitive than Reid's.

 

Obama, in an interview with TV One, called Reid a "stalwart champion ... of civil rights" and a "good man" who meant no offense.

 

"For him to have used some inartful language in trying to praise me, and for people to try to make hay out of that makes absolutely no sense," Obama said. "He apologized, recognizing that he didn't use appropriate language, but there was nothing mean-spirited in what he had to say and he's always been on the right side of the issues."

 

Nevada's other senator, John Ensign, a Republican, said Monday that lawmakers should accept Reid's apology. Republican Sens. John McCain and Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, said a determination on Reid's fate should be made among Nevada voters and the Democratic caucus, respectively.

 

It's outrageous! Can you imagine if instead of Reid, a Republican had said it? Hypocrites.

[Westside Steve]

Sure it's hypocrisy but what do you expect?

The main point is that Reid is correct.

If Barak were jet black and spoke like Sharpton or Tupac he'd have never even been nominated.

This faux outrage is ridiculous.

 

WSS

[DieHardBrownsFan]

I think it's just politics. And of course, Reid is correct.

[Pumpkin Eater]

you know, Negro was actually the preferred word of the black community back in the '40's. It replaced "colored". The supreme court used the word until the mid eighties.

[Chicopee John]

Sure it's hypocrisy but what do you expect?

The main point is that Reid is correct.

If Barak were jet black and spoke like Sharpton or Tupac he'd have never even been nominated.

This faux outrage is ridiculous. WSS

 

Brushing aside the issue of 'right' or 'wrong', the comment would have resulted in a Republican already leaving office.

 

The fact that Sharpton, et al rushed to support Reid is equally ridiculous, IMHO.

 

Reid, like most politicians, look at any voting block - clearly including the huge Black block - as votes, not people. That's why I always chuckle when defenders claim that his or her record over the years has been great RE 'civil rights'.

 

 

 

[calfoxwc]

I heard an interview once. A guy was saying it was indeed, very disappointing that so many blacks are

 

locked into the Democratic party. He said he loved the Democrat party for years, because when he was a kid,

 

in the inner city, the Democrats were always reaching out to them, putting up basketball courts, setting up programs

 

for kids with lunch programs.

 

Those kids have grown up, and they think the Democrats will solve all problems that the inner city folks have.

 

Every time. Every election. AND they excuse Dems for the mistakes they make every time, because of it.

 

But eight years of Clinton, even, didn't resolve the plight of the inner city schools, poverty, etc... at all.

 

Just more dependency. And the Democrats take the black vote for granted now, and the Replublican party

 

knows that they may reach out, but it won't do any good. And that, he said, was a huge mistake

 

by black voters - he said black voters needed to start looking critically at both parties, and seeing which

 

party actually would represent them the best.

 

That's as close a paraphrase as I can remember. It really was an honest appraisal of what we keep seeing.

 

Perhaps it is a good thing that Obama was elected, and is failing miserably brandishing his radical upbringing

 

as the only way he knows how to be president.

 

A lot of Obama voters, of ALL races, colors.... are seeing that electing a black president sets a terrific president,

 

but that THIS black president was unqualified for the job, and is botching the presidency up badly. Obama voters

 

didn't bargain for that, and the voter tide is going to vote their disgust in near future.