Harry Reid’s Blunder

A few months ago, I wrote a post about the hypocritical nature of the dreaded “race card” and how it is being used in the identity politics game.  More recently another example was the revelation in a new book in which Harry Reid is quoted as saying Obama was “light-skinned” and lacked a “Negro dialect” – traits that apparently made him a more viable candidate for the Presidency.  While Reid no doubt did not mean anything racist by his comments, and I do mean this, it’s the defense coming to his aid that is, well, indefensible. 

Reid’s comments were insensitive to the racial tension that our nation has been under for decades.  Or, it wasn’t…if you listen to the President or Rev. Al Sharpton, who both accepted Reid’s apology, no questions asked.  However, back in 2002, after Trent Lott made comments at the 100th birthday party for Senator Strom Thurmond suggesting the nation would be on a better path if he had won the presidency in 1948 the President sang a different tune.  Thurmond ran on a segregationist platform as a Democrat during that campaign (Thurmond became a Republican in 1964), but later was praised for the many things he did to support equal rights.  At the time of Lott’s comments, whether they were comments in support of segregation or to honor a senator who worked 47 years for the nation, those on the left called for his head and those on the right were shamed from supporting him.  In 2002, Obama said:

The Republican Party itself has to drive out Trent Lott. If they have to stand for something, they have to stand up and say this is not the person we want representing our party.”

And this isn’t the first example of Obama’s double standard.  It was just recently it was him who was quick to codemn the police for its over-reaction in the Prof. Gates arrest scandal.  But of course, the police officer wasn’t a Senate Majority Leader. Now a double standard in politics – especially by Democrats playing the race card is nothing extraordinary.  Over at Townhall.com, Ashley Herzog does a good job listing 5 recent incidents outlining the double standard.  Essentially the moral we are told to learn from Democrats is, “do as we say, but not as we do — or we will ridicule you and throw your name in the dirt.”  The second part of this moral is proven by the strategy the Democrats are said to take to defend the leader of the Senate.

According to Politico, not only are they going to support Reid, they are going to use this incident to condemn Republicans – again.  Democrats believe now is the time the American public wants to hear our politicians bicker about who is more righteous.  From the article:

Reid’s allies plan to distribute the NAACP vote ratings of Republican senators who have scolded him. The data will be made available to editorial boards, cable programs and the blogosphere — including votes on minimum wage, community-oriented policing, education funding and HIV/AIDS programs.

So remember the lesson our liberal leadership is teaching us – whether it’s a Democrat or Republican that makes a racially insensitive comment — ultimately, it’s a Republican’s fault.