Racist Or Not: Harry Reid and Blago Get Blacker Than Black
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used the word "Negro" and disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod "Crazy-Pants" Blagojevich says he's "blacker" than the president. Everyone go crazy!
I'm no fan of Harry Reid, mostly because I think he's useless. But I think his "Negro dialect" comment is about as dumb as Vice President Joe Biden calling Obama "clean" and "articulate" during election 2008. Meaning -- what the hell, old dudes?
From the Los Angeles Times:
In their new book "Game Change," authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann say that in 2008 Reid described candidate Obama as a " 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one,' " whom many voters would embrace.
Although Reid apologized to Obama on Saturday for his "poor choice of words" -- and the president accepted because "I know what's in his heart" -- his remarks dominated the Sunday talk shows, where Republicans called for the senator's head.
The contretemps is unlikely to affect the healthcare overhaul, which Reid has shepherded through the Senate without Republican support. The real issue is whether the controversy threatens his reelection by injecting race into an already tough campaign and depressing black turnout in Nevada, where 77% of eligible African Americans voted in 2008.
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, who is black, led the charge.
"There is this standard where the Democrats feel that they can say these things and they can apologize when it comes from the mouths of their own," Steele said on "Fox News Sunday." "But if it comes from anyone else, it's racism. It's either racist or it's not. And it's inappropriate, absolutely."
Maybe I should be outraged. I'm not, because it doesn't surprise me that some old dude still gets his Negroes confused with his Coloreds and his blacks befuddled with his African Americans. It's more another annoying eye-roll to the racially challenged who put their foots in their mouths by being behind the times in their venacular. (See Lott, Trent) It's 2009. I know it's hard to keep up with the name changes, but, dude, Harry ... no one says Negro anymore no matter what the U.S. Census says.
As for Blago being blacker than a black man ...
This guy, he was catapulted in on hope and change, what we hope the guy is. What the fuck? Everything he’s saying’s on the teleprompter. I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.”
He's Blago. Did anyone expect anything less than a trainwreck?
But the real question is ... RACIST OR NOT?!?!?! Go!
Danielle Belton | 64 Comments | Share Article | Email Article | Print Article | tagged harry reid, race, racism, racist or not, rod blagojevich 
Reader Comments (64)
Oh course it is not racist. We all know that Democrats can't be racist, that is reserved for Republicans. My snark aside, it is quite telling that Obama wanted Trent Lott hounded out of the Republican party for his praise of Strom but will forgive Reid.
Snob, this is great. Can I expect a post about Reggie Bush being on the cover of Essence this month? I hope so.
Racist comment? Don't think so. Dumb-ass?-That's for sure. But what gives me more heartburn is the . . "unless he wanted to have one" part of his quote. What is that suppose to mean? Whenever I hear quotes like this and other's like, "he's so articulate", I hear the last part of what I imagine them saying, ". . .for a black person." I
I think calling it racist is the easy way out. To me, racism is about the hatred in another person's heart, and I don't think anyone can prove that's where Reid or Blago's comments come from. Dumb and out of touch? Yes. Racist? I don't think so.
Brian and Andielynn:
If what Reid said is not racist, do you think what Trent Lott said about Strom Thurmond was racist? And, if it wasn't racist then why did the Dems demand Lott step down?
Andielynn, the "unless he wants to" is an acknowledgment that Obama, like many AAs, can "code switch," ie speak the appropriate vernacular depending on the company he's in.
I think Trent Lott's comment in which he agreed with Strom Thurmond about the end of segregation was a far cry from calling Obama a Negro.
Frankly, I want to get rid of Reid for lots of reasons, but this is hardly the grounds.
Scott,
This is explains it all between Reid and Lott. If you can't tell the difference, then no use talking because we will never agree.
http://ta-nehisicoates.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/on_harry_reid.php
Scott:
I'm not sure if Lott's comments were racist or not, because his comments didn't make it clear why he felt Thurmond should have been elected. We can only assume. When Lott made those comments, I think Democrats saw a political opportunity (much like Republicans do now over Reid's comments) and took it.
Snob,
Can someone remind the folks who are jabbering in rage about this stupid Reid comment that he made it in the context of suggesting to Obama that he run for the highest office in the land?
Content people. Context.
Is he racist because he used the term "Negro"? We focus on the terminology, because we do not want to face the fact that maybe he is right.
How many times have you heard "Oh, he is talking so white" or "I'm booking an appt. for X and I'm using my best white voice"
Face it, the idea that black people speak differently isn't unique to Harry Reid. Plus BHO does add the "Y'all" to his speeches when he speaking to majority black audiences.
EXAMPLE His speech onn March 4, 2007 in Selma, Alabama
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95KC7CF5B9E (Listen to that speech and tell me he doesn't sound different).
What I love about this speech is BHO's claim that a grandfather he never meet was an admirer of MLK (who would he know) and that Selma Marches in March 1962 inspired his father to attended university in USA and have a child with a white student (BHO Sr. started at the University of Hawaii in September 1959 and BHO was born August 1961).
You know I use to agree with The Snob about Senate Majority Leader Reid until this healthcare reform battle. Without much help from anybody, he did get it passed. I give more credit to Reid then Obama or Pelosi for it any day of the week.
snobfanforeal:
If Reid really felt that Obama was qualified or would be popular with voters then why does his dialect or skin-color matter as a topic of conversation?
Snobby, and a whole bunch of other folks - STOP FRONTIN'! While using Black versus Negro would have been more current, every black child who has ever had to fight their way out of the neighborhood to catch the bus to private school or predominantly white school but had to LIVE in their hood knows exactly what Harry Reid was talking about. Negro venacular is that unconscious mangling of the language that occurs because a person was taught to speak by people who did not speak proper English. It's what Michael Steele woefully attempts when he mis-slings slang in an attempt to be "down with the people". We use more elegant terms for it now, but let's be real. Getting an education does not reverse some of what you learned at home. I see it frequently professionally, and it can be the downfall of many - the ability to write well, but the inability to make it come out of your mouth properly, and the slippage comes from the inaccuracy not being foreign to you ear. And let's ALL stop pretending that colorism is not a facet of racism. Merely acknowledging that being able to confront two race related obstacles is not the same thing as suggesting that had a segregationalist won an elction, the world would now be a better place to live (See Lott, Trent).
As for Blago - "what the "f"-ever" - news flash, broke and shinin' shoes is not the sole definition of being Black in America. But being white and Serbian isn't ANY of those definitions, even if you shined shoes...... a$$hat!
divaliscious11
I understand completely the context in which Mr. Reid made the remark and it still doesn't make it any better.TI've been hearing all morning how the Mr. Reid meant it in a positive way. If so, it sounds like a back handed compliment a big girl. would hear "She so's pretty and if she lost all that way she'd be even prettier". Oh, but I meant in a positive way. Well then I guess that makes it all right.
Scott - if merely being qualified was all it took, then you'd be right. But in this country, history suggests that for Blacks to achieve equal success, that need to be more qualified and have to work around 'cultural biases', to be politically correct....
Pardon all the errors in my previous post. I'm not wearing my glasses and can barely see.
yea, both get a gas face. but i think that aussie kfc commercial is way more racist.
I suppose that what bothers me most about Harry Reid's patently racist comment is that his words imply that a dark-skinned, black man with a "Negro dialect" (whatever that means) would make him an unacceptable Presidential candidate. Why is that? Does Reid think that being light-skinned means one is closer to being white, and hence, would speak well? As far as the dialect comment, OneLook's online dictionary says dialect means, "the usage or vocabulary that is characteristic of a specific group of people." Does Reid actually believe the vast majority of blacks in the United States of America have the same dialect? Tell me it's not so! How asinine!
do you think white people would have voted for that candidate? they do make 2/3 of the population, and without the white vote, obama would still be a community organizer. let's not kid ourselves. politics has less to do with what you can do and more to do with what you can sell.
I agree with Swiv. Politics have to do with the ability to sell oneself to the masses. However, I don't believe that being dark-skinned is an impediment. Nor do I believe that dialect is innate in skin color. I do believe that regardless of one's dialect--i.e., George W. Bush's Texas drawl--a skilled and polished speaker, be he a politician or community organizer, has an equal ability to sell himself in the political arena. Hence, my aformentioned comments are intended only to speak to the palpable and probable racism of Reid and his comments.
What Reid said was stupid and archaic but not racist.
Trent Lott basically implied he was proud of Strom Thurman's "pro segregation past" and "too bad we can't go back to those days." So yes, it was racist. What Reid say, albeit it poorly chosen words ("Negro") was a true comment: Obama faired that much better with White voters because he was a light-skinned Black man that can speak in a "dialect" when and if he wants. If Reid's statement had been said by a Black person, there wouldn't be an issue. What Reid said is true, sadly, because this country is still color-struck and people will still go for "lighter hued" people. If Obama had been running against and equally matched candidate who was darker than he, he probably still would have won because people in this country, hell in this world, still have issues with the beauty of Blackness.
It's Count Blackcula, Prince of Darkness, run!
but would the reaction be the same if it was more recent and from a white republican or rush?
Swiv - even a broken clock is right twice a day.....
But to me clear, the issue is not only the words but the intent behind them, and it seems pretty clear there was nothing malicious to the statement. Commenting on facts, not speculations, not derision couched in purported ..hell I don't even know what to characterize what Rush et al do....as it damn sure ain't journalism... that matters. And intent matters (See, murder vs manslaughter)
And he didn't say "the", he said "a"..., as in one of many... dialects vary across the country....