rssHarry Reid Doesn’t Care About Black People
Saturday, January 03, 2009 at 9:54 pm
- 11 Comments
This week’s award for bad faith spin goes to an anonymous (of course) “GOP Senate aide” to complain to Jake Tapper that the media is not angry enough at Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for suggesting that three possible Senate nominees in Illinois—Danny K. Davis, Emil Jones, and Jesse Jackson, Jr, all African-American—were not electable.
What would the reaction be if a Republican had been pressuring a Governor not to pick one of the black candidates? You and I both remember the outrage over Trent Lott’s comments at Strom Thurmond’s birthday party.
Good question. The problem is that this hypothetical Republican would not be a member of the party that commands 90 to 95 percent of the black vote and just elected the first black president. He would, however, belong to a party whose candidates for chairman include a guy who belonged to a whites-only country club until 2008 and a guy who sent national committeemen a hilarious parody song called “Barack the Magic Negro.” For a number of reasons too thorny to get into here (some of them involving Democrat-turned-Republican Strom Thurmond), in presidential elections and most other elections the GOP gets a majority of white votes and the Democrats get a majority of non-white votes. This isn’t usually a bad deal for the GOP. They’ve won seven of the last 10 presidential races, after all. But they don’t get as much leeway on “issues” like this. Life’s not fair.
Of course, even if hypothetical Republican governor had said what Reid allegedly said, in an identical situation, he’d have a point—at least two of these candidates are not very electable. Danny K. Davis once handed cult leader Sun Myung Moon a “crown of peace” in a Washington ceremony, then professed ignorance as to why this was controversial. Jones, who would be 73 years old in 2010, is retiring from the Illinois State Senate and was expected to be a placeholder if appointed. Jesse Jackson, Jr has a stronger case for either of them for his own electability, as Nate Silver explains, but Reid wouldn’t be the only Democrat who thought him less certain to win than, say, two-term state Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
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11 Comments
Comment posted January 3, 2009 @ 8:05 pm
Didn't Harry Reid also complain about the smell of black people?
Comment posted January 3, 2009 @ 8:07 pm
Didn't Harry Reid recently complain about the smell of black people?
Comment posted January 3, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
Right.
Some of Harry Reid's best friends are blacks.
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Comment posted January 4, 2009 @ 12:53 am
Reid has a conflict of interest here. He should be neutral in this since he has involved himself by calling the governor and trying to pick Obama's successor. this is a delicate situation since Reid clearly was against three (now four) qualified black men in favor of two white women. The appearance is unmistakable. But never mind all that, the fact is Roland Burris was appointed lawfully by a sitting governor. Given the legality of the appointment and the racial implications of Reid's behavior, he should just stay away from the battle and let the legal process run its course.
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Comment posted January 5, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
Questions: We all heard quite a bit over the campaign that white people will soon be the minority in the U.S. So, does that mean at that point that all mandatory minority hiring quota jobs go to whites? When whites are the minority, will whites be protected by affirmative action and admissions quotas at schools? At what point will handouts to blacks cease in this country simply because they black? How are the black complainers going to proceed when the whole country knows they aren't even a minority anymore?
Comment posted January 5, 2009 @ 6:30 pm
Here”s a song worth hearing. “I'm A Big Man I'm A Republican”. Here's one back for the Republicans http://todd-alan.net/im-a-big-man-im-a-republic…
Comment posted January 6, 2009 @ 11:18 am
HARRY REID.. is a DEMOCRAT.. DEMOCRAT … DEMOCRAT!!!!!
And a TYPICAL DEMOCRAT at that!!!
“at Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)” , Nice try there DAVID! To Make him look like a Republican. But we all KNOW if there is any RACISM it's the Great Old PARTY of RACISIM the DEMOCRATS.. Sentor Byrd ANYONE!!!!! So make sure you get it right !!!
Comment posted January 6, 2009 @ 7:18 pm
HARRY REID.. is a DEMOCRAT.. DEMOCRAT … DEMOCRAT!!!!!
And a TYPICAL DEMOCRAT at that!!!
“at Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)” , Nice try there DAVID! To Make him look like a Republican. But we all KNOW if there is any RACISM it's the Great Old PARTY of RACISIM the DEMOCRATS.. Sentor Byrd ANYONE!!!!! So make sure you get it right !!!
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