The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Was Harry Reid Wrong?

Posted on | January 10, 2010 | 112 Comments

This “light-skinned . . . no Negro dialect” controversy raged while I was on the road yesterday. Somebody told me it about Reid’s remark while I was at a Tea Party event in Altadena, Calif., from which I went straight to the airport for the long flight home. Excuse me, therefore, for being late to the Reid roast.

Of course, conservatives are generally denouncing the hypocrisy and double-standards involved here, asking, “What if a Republican had said what Harry Reid said?” Fair enough. On the other hand, Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post has a point:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid acted like an idiot.
Also, he was right.
It’s a measure of the suffocating culture of political correctness that it feels risky to say that. It’s a measure of the insulting how-dumb-do-they-think-we-are culture of incessant partisanship that Republicans leapt on Reid’s remarks as racist.

A good start, except that Marcus goes on to say:

For anyone in public life to use the word “Negro” in 2008 is beyond stupid. What was once polite has become demeaning.

Really? Merely to use “negro” is demeaning? OK, so what about “colored,” as in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People?

You can’t oppose political correctness while simultaneously enforcing political correctness, so my reaction is to (a) stipulate that Harry Reid intended nothing “racist” by his remarks, and (b) offer to pop the popcorn while we watch Democrats explain that liberalism is the virtue that excuses all vices.

It is observed at Hot Air and Protein Wisdom that in 2002, Barack Obama was merciless in regard to Trent Lott’s belated endorsement of Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential campaign. Obama and Democrats were merely playing racial politics in that episode. Is turnabout fair play? That is to say, does it behoove Republicans to crucify Harry Reid like the Democrats crucified Lott?

We’re at a teachable moment here and we ought to begin by acknowledging the fundamental truth of what Harry Reid was awkwardly trying to say: Barack Obama is “less black,” both racially and culturally, than Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. If Reid was trying to explain why Obama was electable in a way that Sharpton and Jackson were not, then he hit the nail quite nearly on the head.

This is really just another way in which Obama is like Jimmy Carter, who worked with a vocal coach to “de-Southernize” his accent before the 1976 presidential campaign. If Carter had been perceived as just a standard-issue Southern Democrat a la George Wallace, he never would have been competitive as a presidential candidate. And ditto if Obama had been perceived as a standard-issue black Democrat a la Maxine Waters.

Assuming that this was all Reid was trying to say, then the awkwardness with which he said it ought not serve as fuel for a scandal. Harry Reid is no more a racist than I am.

Hey, at least no one can accuse me of hypocrisy.

UPDATE: (Smitty): What they can do, Stacy, is package a possible implied conflict of interest as a question.  Ethics do matter.  Had money exchanged hands to produce the penultimate sentence of the original post, I’m confident you’d have alerted the reader to the connection.  Or any other non-obvious connection between you and Reid.

Thanks, Mr. Pontificator.

UPDATE II (Smitty): Admonition to lighten up noted.   Pontificate on, sir.

UPDATE III (RSM): After a three-hour nap (recovering from jet-lag) I wake up to discover Patterico’s getting the ‘Lanche by playing off my joke, in a post that links Protein Wisdom.

So we’ll call this a win-win-win, especially since Harry Reid has inspired Amanda Marcotte to declare that “the old white man-ness of the Democratic leadership is becoming a serious problem.” With progressive friends like Marcotte, why does Harry Reid need enemies?

And I’m sure Reid’s re-election campaign will embrace this slogan:

VOTE for HARRY

He’s No More Racist Than Stacy McCain!

Category: Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Racism, Senate

Comments

112 Responses to “Was Harry Reid Wrong?”

  1. Stinky
    January 11th, 2010 @ 6:27 pm

    Wow. I just read the comments on #45 and I think that commentators assessment is spot on.

  2. Stinky
    January 11th, 2010 @ 1:27 pm

    Wow. I just read the comments on #45 and I think that commentators assessment is spot on.

  3. kansas
    January 11th, 2010 @ 7:44 pm

    Do we really want Reid to resign so a more attractive Senate candidate can be found in Nevada? Since this event happened a long time ago, what is the real motivation for it being released now?

  4. kansas
    January 11th, 2010 @ 2:44 pm

    Do we really want Reid to resign so a more attractive Senate candidate can be found in Nevada? Since this event happened a long time ago, what is the real motivation for it being released now?

  5. Wes Messamore
    January 11th, 2010 @ 3:00 pm

    Was Harry Reid wrong to imply that most American voters care how dark or light a candidate’s skin is? Yes! He was wrong. Most Americans are way past that. I’m insulted as a voting American that he feels that way about me.

  6. Wes Messamore
    January 11th, 2010 @ 8:00 pm

    Was Harry Reid wrong to imply that most American voters care how dark or light a candidate’s skin is? Yes! He was wrong. Most Americans are way past that. I’m insulted as a voting American that he feels that way about me.

  7. Joe
    January 11th, 2010 @ 11:48 pm

    I am against pilloring people for some racial, as opposed to truly racist comment. I suspect even “white supremacist” RSM would too. Being un-PC is not and should not be a crime.

    But Harry Reid’s comments were condesending to voters as a whole and certainly hypocritical. That is why Reid is a mendacous idiot. But racist? No.

    And I also agree with kansas. We do want Reid to stick around for the election and hope he goes down. Whether he does or not will depend on his polling as the election gets closer–not much we can do other than let Democrats fall over one another. If it looks like he is doomed, the Dems will make him “pull a Dodd.” Right now they need him to get health care through the Senate–

    however, Nevada has a Republican governor. Does he get to pick Harry’s replacement? Hmmmm. Does anyone know how it works in Nevada?

  8. Joe
    January 11th, 2010 @ 6:48 pm

    I am against pilloring people for some racial, as opposed to truly racist comment. I suspect even “white supremacist” RSM would too. Being un-PC is not and should not be a crime.

    But Harry Reid’s comments were condesending to voters as a whole and certainly hypocritical. That is why Reid is a mendacous idiot. But racist? No.

    And I also agree with kansas. We do want Reid to stick around for the election and hope he goes down. Whether he does or not will depend on his polling as the election gets closer–not much we can do other than let Democrats fall over one another. If it looks like he is doomed, the Dems will make him “pull a Dodd.” Right now they need him to get health care through the Senate–

    however, Nevada has a Republican governor. Does he get to pick Harry’s replacement? Hmmmm. Does anyone know how it works in Nevada?

  9. ~ Representing KRAP (Keep Racism Alive Party), Jan. 2010: Harry Reid, on Black People Whose Skin is Too Dark « Critical Political Thinking
    January 11th, 2010 @ 9:06 pm

    […] The Other McCain:  Allen West on Harry Reid: A Black Republican on ‘Negro Talk’ Was Harry Reid Wrong? […]

  10. Is Harry Reid a RAAAAACIST? « The Daley Gator
    January 11th, 2010 @ 9:42 pm

    […] this post over at The Other McCain got me thinking. Is Harry Reid a RAAAAACIST because of his ill fated remarks about our […]

  11. Michael
    January 12th, 2010 @ 8:33 pm

    I’m all for the “teachable moment” concept. I’ve seen almost exactly the same point made over here.

  12. Michael
    January 12th, 2010 @ 3:33 pm

    I’m all for the “teachable moment” concept. I’ve seen almost exactly the same point made over here.