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Reid to Obama: Sorry for 'no Negro dialect' remark

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Just one more example of the hypocrisy exhibited by Dems. These same Dems a couple years ago were calling for Trent Lott to resign over his comments, but when one of their own get caught, they give him a pass. Guess this is another reason to refer to him as 'Dirty' Harry. Fortunately for everyone, he'll be retiring come next January.

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Reid may have made improper comments, but they were exactly correct. Obama's oratory skill was probably the most important reason (among many) he was elected. And there is no way to deny that appearance makes no difference in a candidates palatability.

Nobody wants to admit these things, but they are true.

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Sorry, there is no way to deny that appearance makes a BIG difference in a candidate's palatability.

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Joe Biden got critized in the campaign for calling Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy". That blew over and so will this. The media is just not willing to deal with the fact that today's Democratic party is led by limousine liberals who put one image out in public and another behind closed doors.

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"Reid, who faces a difficult re-election"

How is this possible?

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Wait until the media gets around to what Clinton said in the book "Game Change." A few years ago Obama "would have been getting us coffee"

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Molenir you need to remember what Trent Lott said. There's a lot of difference in the two statements. Reid's comment wasn't proper, but it wasn't derogatory. < :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Lott

Lott said: "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 the years, either."[13]

Thurmond had based his presidential campaign largely on an explicit racial segregation platform. Lott had attracted controversy before in issues relating to civil rights. As a Congressman, he voted against renewal of the Voting Rights Act, voted against the continuation of the Civil Rights Act and opposed making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday.[14] The Washington Post reported that Lott had made similar comments about Thurmond's candidacy in a 1980 rally.[15]

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lmao. When Reid the racist loses his job and the Democrats lose control of the House dingy Harry can sit in for Rush Limbaugh!

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Harry Reid apologized on Saturday for saying Barack Obama should seek — and could win — the White House because Obama was a “light skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

Obama should have puckered up and said "watchu talkin abou Ried?"

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Reid is a racist who needs to step down and seek help.

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Reid is a racist who needs to step down and seek help.

lol. I get where you're coming from here, but Reid is no more a racist then Trent Lott was. Classic racism no longer exists in the mainstream. Well, except among Blacks. These days, race baiters like Al Sharpton have to point out little things, and create controversies like this. Reid isn't a racist. Lott wasn't a racist. Byrd was a racist, but no longer is. The primary difference in treatment however, is the D next to his name.

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At least I am glad this book is looking at both sides in the past election. It has some zingers about the Repbulicans that I am sure the left will trumpet loudly about, but I think in the case of what was said about Reid and John Edwards in the book they will just let it pass quietly. Too much "dirt" on their side could be brought up if they only spoke of the negatives about the Rep.

Molenir you need to remember what Trent Lott said. There's a lot of difference in the two statements. Reid's comment wasn't proper, but it wasn't derogatory. < :-)

adaydream I get what you are saying, but I think that Reid's comments are a bit more than Lott's. Lott was speaking of the history of the time on how things where. I get that Thurmon was a segregationist, as much of the Southern Dems. were then and it was obvious. But with Reid, someone who as the Dems like to put across as "the party for minorities" to say that just last year exposes them on some of the hypocracy comments that many Repbublicans have.

Do I think Reid and Lott are racists, as a Black man myself I wouldn't say so. It just shows that they may still have to learn who to speak to. I think the Clinton remarks, even though they are true in the fact that years ago Blacks did serve in the White House as butler staff point more to their true identities. Use any means necessary to get ahead, even if it means saying "I'm one of you" as he so fondly said when he was running for President.

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Reid to Obama: Sorry for 'no Negro dialect' remark

Remember, the democrats is the party of tolerance.

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Molenir: "These same Dems a couple years ago were calling for Trent Lott to resign over his comments, but when one of their own get caught, they give him a pass."

Molenir, sheesh you like to draw bizarre analogies. Trent's comment, as adaydream said earlier, was derogatory and meant to undermine Obama. Reid's comment was just plain stupid and improper, clearly with no harm intended.

"adaydream I get what you are saying..."

And yet you still think there's some hypocrisy here. Call both comments what they are; improper and stupid. But don't say calling one derogatory and not the other is hypocritical, because there is a difference.

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Molenir, sheesh you like to draw bizarre analogies. Trent's comment, as adaydream said earlier, was derogatory and meant to undermine Obama. Reid's comment was just plain stupid and improper, clearly with no harm intended.

Trents comment had nothing to do with Obama. He was at a celebration of Strom Thurmond, who was one of the oldest Senators of all time, congratulating him on a life well spent. He certainly wasn't denigrating Blacks. While it was stupid comment to make, it certainly wasn't racist. I don't believe Reids comment was either. Stupid yes, racist no. The difference in treatment is however hypocritical. Of that there is no question.

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I don't think is racist but it sure is pretty darn arrogant and condescending towards the African American community, at least toward the ones in the African American community who harbor the 'so called negro dialect' in his view.

That's my opinion on this.

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Poor Harry Reid could have at least gotten a beer summit out of the whole kerfluffle, if it weren't for his Mormon faith. Lmao.

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sailwind, you said it as I was trying to say. It's not so much that he is racist, but the fact that those who Reid has no contact with, (i.e. the millions of blacks that he expects to vote along Dem party lines) he could probably care less about. If I were a Hispanic person, I would pay close attention to how this plays out. Once they get the illegals that are in America citizenship, they will try to say that it was the "Democratic party who did this favor for you so you should vote Democratic for the next 100 years") that to me is how the Republicans lost the Black vote. And if Reid and others of his type probably have that mentality as to the ones who "speak well" and the others who don't, you will see the same thing occur in hispanic communities that has happened in many black ones, that there will be dividing lines set up and that will keep them poor and dependent on government handouts for generations.

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Molenir - "Classic racism no longer exists in the mainstream. Well, except among Blacks." You're living on another planet, right? I guess Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glen Beck don't count? People always seize on Sharpton, Jesse Jackson or Louis Farrakhan even when they aren't involved in the conversation. Racism is alive and well. Some people just try to keep it on the "Good old boy network" among themselves.

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Reid's comments should be a wake up call to black americans everywhere; democrat liberals are the most racist of all people

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"Obama should have puckered up and said "Watchu talkin abou Reid?"

Har!

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I get where you're coming from here, but Reid is no more a racist then Trent Lott was.

What an example of damnation by faint praise.

Classic racism no longer exists in the mainstream. Well, except among Blacks.

This reads as though it could be the title of a news story in The Onion, preceded by the words: "Ignorant white man claims...."

Is that "classic" as in the difference between Coke Classic and New Coke? No longer exists, eh? What was the approximate date of its demise from the mainstream?

Seriously, the statement is so utterly foolish as to defy words. It's funny because so many other white folks are trying to claim just how racist white people are (if they're "democratic liberals"). Since the democrats voted in the majority in the last election, that must be pretty close to "mainstream."

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He was at a celebration of Strom Thurmond, who was one of the oldest Senators of all time, congratulating him on a life well spent. He certainly wasn't denigrating Blacks.

Really? Strom Thurmond ran on a racist Dixiecrat platform that supported Jim Crow laws. You must be claiming that Jim Crow laws did nothing to denigrate African Americans. Remember that Trent was speaking of the time and place in history when Thurmond was an outright defender of those laws. To paraphrase: "Strom, we were proud of you when you were racist and supported a racist platform. And the country would have been much better off had you and your racist platform won the White House."

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Alphaape writes: "I get what you are saying, but I think that Reid's comments are a bit more than Lott's. Lott was speaking of the history of the time on how things where."

Wrong. Lott was claiming that the country was not nearly as well off today as it would have been if Strom the racist segregationist won the presidency back when he ran.

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Reid's comments should be a wake up call to black americans everywhere; democrat liberals are the most racist of all people

When I look back and consider all of the liberals who risked their lives, and sometimes sacrificed their lives, to join the freedom riders and marches for civil rights, I have to say that the above statement stands as a great example of the racism it pretends to condemn.

The statement was written by a white person who secretly believes that African Americans are so dumb as to need a "wake up call," and which overtly says that they are dumb to affiliate themselves politically -- as they do now -- with "the most racist of all people."

Funny how the ones who claim that racism is dead won't make a single comment to challenge that statement.

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as far as i know.. people with negro dialects are: eminem, justin timberlake, vanilla ice and taylor swift..

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Lest we not forget, the Democrats were the party of the KKK.

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Well, everyone is making a big deal about this in the context of 2008,2009, and 2010. Every American has to be hysterical about something.

Take it out of context and look how far we have come. Senator apologizes to President about possibly racist comment that is apparently not derogatory. President says... ok.. whatever... let's get back to business.

And that is about the size of it. Martin L. King is shouting hallelujah... or something... at how trivial this is. This comment made by Reid is just barely this side of meaningless, especially in a 20 year or 50 year context. I think MLK would prefer a sitting non-white POTUS dismissing apologoies to having old ladies being accosted with firehoses and police dogs. The US has come a long way.

As far as the NEGRO DIALECT thing... look at how awkwardly that is phrased. You can tell that Reid is grappling with how to put it that... well, RAPpers are not really speaking English... so he comes up with NEGRO DIALECT as some kind of PCism. It is pretty sad. Words failed him. Biden too: "articulate". Biden was trying to say that Obama is not "speaking jive" and he could not do it without sounding like a hillbilly either.

Mark my words. There will come a day when MLK's I HAVE A DREAM speech will be picked apart for its "racist" language. It is too blunt for 2010.

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"Every American has to be hysterical about something"

I'm not hysterical about anything - so much for that theory, eh?

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Senator Reid's comments and the reaction towards them are par for the course in todays' partisan political culture. President Obama gives him a pass because he is a Democrat. If Senator McConnell had said the exact same thing Obama would not have been so gracious and the media would have compared him to Senator Lott. The media will bring it up but Reid won't be dogged by it in the way that Lott was. Not only did Reid use the term "Negro" but he also focused on the racist stereotypes of light-skin color and that he uses a "Negro dialect" when he wants to. His comments were 'insensitive' on several different levels.

Neither Reid or Lott are racists. Neither of them attended a segregationist or racist church for two decades. Senator Lott was obviously not saying that the nation would have been better off if a segregationist had become president; and when asked directly he has stated so. He was just trying to flatter an old man on his birthday. He admitted that it was a dumb thing to say and wasn't thought through. There was simply a jump to the conclusion that Lott is a Republican so obviously he meant his statement to be racist. In other words, Lott isn't a human being but a person of a certain group that should be treated differently. This is how the Democrats use race to keep blacks voting for them by manipulating their emotions and fears. This is what leads to branding blacks such as Justice Thomas, Secretary Rice, and Chairman Steele as Uncle Toms or house negros - or worse.

The most prominent politician with a racist background in Americn politics today is Senator Byrd, a Democrat. Byrd's background as an admitted Grand Wizard of the KKK is much more insidious then say, Senator Helms, yet Byrd is an acceptable Democrat that the party embraces as one of their own. In fact, it wasn't that long ago that Byrd used the verbotten "N-word". Contrast this to Helms who was labeled a racist by the Democrat party and the media. Helms didn't support segregation in the post Civil Rights era. He changed just as Byrd changed yet as a Republican he was assumed to be a racist. Until Liberals learn to accept that the world has changed the country will continue to be 'cowards' when it comes to talking about race.

If Senator Reid is ultimately damaged by his insensitive remarks about blacks then I would chalk it up to karma equalizing things out a bit.

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Obama needs to settle this with a bucket of KFC and a few beers on the White House lawn looking at Mrs. veggie garden --> but with this cold snap that date is well off.

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Biden the plagiarst called Obama 'clean' and 'well spoken' and now this from dingy Harry Reid.

Do the Democrats know how silly they look? 2 of the 4 most powerful ppl in your party are racist good old boys.

I won't even mention Robert Byrd...Lmao.

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Wolfpack writes:

Neither of them attended a segregationist or racist church for two decades.

LOL! Two whole decades, huh? You later bring up Senator Byrd to try to make a point -- omitting the fact that Byrd cut his ties to a racist organization over a half-century ago.

Senator Lott was obviously not saying that the nation would have been better off if a segregationist had become president

Since the single reason why Thurmond and other white segregationists broke with the Democratic Party and formed the Dixicrats was their opposition to the Democrats' push for civil rights and integration -- as exemplified by Truman's integration of the armed services -- anyone claiming that Lott is not saying what he clearly said is either daft or dishonest.

Interesting to note that Thurmond the segregationist soon found a happy home in the party that David Duke later chose as his own: the Republicans. Nixon later made it a key part of his platform as the "southern strategy." (Which a more recent RNC chairman had to apologize for. Recent, as in less than two decades ago.)

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Alphaape, Lott was trumpeting the old ways, the segregationist ways. You think that was Trent Lott was saying something different. He was saying that we should have voted for Thurmond as president and his segregationist ways.

Reid was saying how Obama was appealing to the American public.

There's a big difference here. < :-)

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RomeoRamen -

democrat liberals are the most racist of all people

Except when we elect a black man (who's clearly the better candidate) over a white man for the office of President of the United States of America! Don't forget all the truly racist slurs dished on by Repubs in the election, gang. People were right to call Republicans racist, then and now; the Republicans are simply trying to limp-wristedly sling it back at us. Yet anothers swing and miss by the defeated, racist Republicans.

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USAFdude; There is no evidenec of racism in the REpublican party. There is evidenec as shown in this story of in grained racism within Democrats themselves. It was the Democrats who supported slavery and the KKK.

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You are all blinded idealists. There are recists, bigots, and simple ignorant people on all sides consisting of all kinds of people. There is no such binary as all good or all bad, within humanity -the sooner you realize that the sooner you'll be able to engage in reasonable meaningful discourse.

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USAFdude

Don't forget all the truly racist slurs dished on by Repubs in the election, gang.

Can you list examples of republicans that used racial slurs?

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Helter_Skelter ask and it shall be delivered to you. You want racial slurs against Obama from republicans. Read: < :-)

http://centristvoice.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/report-palin-used-racial-slur-when-speaking-about-obama/

http://www.presidentpolls2008.com/Issues/Candidates/Republican-Presidential-Hopefuls/

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Conservative+Free+Republic+blog+free+speech+flap+after+racial+slurs+directed+Obama+children/1782375/story.html

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m5c32: You are all blinded idealists. There are recists, bigots, and simple ignorant people on all sides consisting of all kinds of people. There is no such binary as all good or all bad, within humanity -the sooner you realize that the sooner you'll be able to engage in reasonable meaningful discourse.

Yep.

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yabits:

LOL! Two whole decades, huh? You later bring up Senator Byrd to try to make a point -- omitting the fact that Byrd cut his ties to a racist organization over a half-century ago.

Yes, and Thurmond cut his ties with his segregationist past as well. Thanks for helping me make my point.

Since the single reason why Thurmond and other white segregationists broke with the Democratic Party and formed the Dixicrats was their opposition to the Democrats' push for civil rights and integration -- as exemplified by Truman's integration of the armed services -- anyone claiming that Lott is not saying what he clearly said is either daft or dishonest.

Again, Lott was just humouring a 100 year old man on his birthday. Yes, everyone knows that Thurmond was a segregationist (as was Senator Byrd) and that what Lott said was stupid. Lott himself believes what he said was stupid. My point is that Lott was not given the benefit of the doubt while Reid was. Lott is not racist and has never advocated discrimination in government policy; yet Liberals and the media want to insist that he is. By the way, Civil Rights only passed because it received more Republican support than Democrat support in Congress.

Interesting to note that Thurmond the segregationist soon found a happy home in the party that David Duke later chose as his own: the Republicans.

Duke was rejected by the Republican party and did not hold any office as a Republican. However, only nine years ago (and not 50) Senator Byrd used the 'N-word' on national television. Republicans and Democrats can't prevent racists from claiming they are members of their party but they can prevent them from holding office as representatives of their party. The fact remains, Byrd was an actual grand wizard of the KKK - and that doesn't seem to bother Democrats in the least. Unbelievable hypocrisy - much more so than even Senator Reid's case.

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"report-palin-used-racial-slur-when-speaking-about-obama"

Heh, I notice your link doesn't say which racist word she allegedly used. That's because Palin never used a racial slur when speaking about Obama or anyone else.

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Sarge, go to the link. Read. It's in English. Do I have to copy and post it for you? Check it out Sarge. < :-)

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Duke was rejected by the Republican party and did not hold any office as a Republican.

That is incorrect. Duke, like Strom Thurmond before him, changed parties from Democrat to Republican and won elective office for the first time in 1989 as a Republican to the Louisiana House of Representatives. He served until 1992, and always did well in heavily Republican districts.

Byrd was never a grand wizard. (Duke most certainly was.) Keep in mind also that West Virginia is a state that usually votes Republican, and so the voters there don't seem to mind Byrd's past.

My point is that Lott was not given the benefit of the doubt while Reid was.

That's because the nature of the remarks are vastly different. Saying that America would have been better off if an arch-segregationist had won the highest office in the land is different from acknowledging that there is a difference to non-blacks between "black English" and "standard English."

The African-American linguist and conservative commentator, John McWhorter, has written an excellent piece in The New Republic which gives at least five good reasons why Reid said nothing worth apoligizing for. (McWhorter is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think-tank.)

http://www.tnr.com/blog/john-mcwhorter/reids-three-little-words-the-log-our-own-eye

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adaydream - Hey, I found it!

So, your link claims an Alaskan waitress said Palin said "So Sambo beat the bitch" when referring to Obama's win over Hillary.

And you believe it, don't you?

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That's the kind of maverick thing that Palin would say. I believe that. < :-)

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Mr Reid apologized. I reckon that settles it.

Guilty.

Racist.

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I'm a dark-skinned white person!

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yabits:

That is incorrect. Duke, like Strom Thurmond before him, changed parties from Democrat to Republican and won elective office for the first time in 1989 as a Republican to the Louisiana House of Representatives.

My apologies, you are right on that account. I find it pretty sad that Duke could get elected anywhere - pretty disturbing. It is rather more astounding how a minority Republican could be elected Governor by that same state party (Gov. Jindal). Yet even today Democrat Senator Byrd still serves in the US Senate.

Byrd was never a grand wizard

Right again - but he was an 'Exalted Cyclops' which is second in command to the grand wizard. Either way it's not much of a difference in my book and hardly worth quibbling about.

That's because the nature of the remarks are vastly different. Saying that America would have been better off if an arch-segregationist had won the highest office in the land is different from acknowledging that there is a difference to non-blacks between "black English" and "standard English."

Of course the comments made by Reid and Lott are not exactly equivalent. The issue is that both men apologized and Lott even went on BET television to made sure that everyone knew that he didn't mean to infer that he supports segregation. As far as I know, Lott has never supported the goals of segregation or even sponsored any segregationist of discrimintory policies at any level politically. If it turns out that I am wrong then I would be glad to see the evidence and change my opinion. Lott has been just the opposite and has always pursued public policy in a color blind fashion.

Reid's comment was worse than just the "negro" comment which he assumed was made off the record - makes one wonder what other racial comments the man says "off the record". Reid stated that he thought the lighter skinned Obama was more acceptable. By any Liberal standard, Senator Reid is a racist. Oh, except he is a Democrat so the media will give him a pass.

Face it Liberals, had any Republican made the exact same comments they would be called a racist and the media would be hounding them relentlessly. The Democrat party uses race for political purposes and no level of hypocrisy will keep them from using this wedge issue to achieve political power.

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The issue is that both men apologized and Lott even went on BET television to made sure that everyone knew that he didn't mean to infer that he supports segregation. As far as I know, Lott has never supported the goals of segregation or even sponsored any segregationist of discrimintory policies at any level politically. If it turns out that I am wrong then I would be glad to see the evidence and change my opinion. Lott has been just the opposite and has always pursued public policy in a color blind fashion.

As a Congressman, Lott voted against the renewal of the Voting Rights Act, and against the continuation of the Civil Rights Act, as well as being opposed to making a federal holiday for ML King. (By contrast Senator Reid scores far higher on issues of great importance to civil rights leaders.) He had associations with organizations like the neo-Confederate Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization that proudly supported David Duke. Put together, it hardly constitutes color-blindness.

Face it Liberals, had any Republican made the exact same comments they would be called a racist and the media would be hounding them relentlessly.

When Lott made his comments back in 2002, after his apology, several leading black Congressman publicly accepted it. John Lewis of Georgia was one of those. (Rep. Lewis is a man who was very close to King.) It was the conservative side that put the most pressure on Lott to step down.

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Reid made a comment using wording that he regrets about Obama. Obama says it's over. Then ... it's over! Anyone remember the economy, terrorism and all the other problems still unsolved?

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How dare Reid point out that the US was unlikely to elect a "brother" unless he was palatable to an fairly conservative electorate. How dare he.

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did somebody say the n word?? lol.

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