Could a Republican say this

[dirty dog]

This morning as I was driving I was listening to the Niece of Martin Luther King, Atheta I believe her name was, the topic of conversation was the comment from Harry Reid about President Obama "being accepted because he is light skinned" and "not speaking Negro unless he wants to". Of course the media and his fellow Democrats are glossing this over and saying there is nothing to talk about. Do you think any Republicans could say this and not have the world calling for his head? Why do we accept such a double standard from our politicians?

Atheta had a very cool response she said of course the republicans could not say such a thing and she said that the democrats should be up in arms because it represented something most of us know nothing about. According to her, back in the days of slavery, the light colored and better speaking Negros worked in the house and were called house negros. The darker and poorer speaking negros worked in the field and were called field negros. She said that what Senator Reid did was call President Obama a "white house negro" These were all her words not mine, but I did find it funny.

[Longermonger]

Facts matter. At the bare minimum you omitted the word "dialect". That changes everything. You sort of left out the context in which the words were used, the background of the person that spoke them, the other people in the room, the apology that has already been made (to the ONE person due an apology), and a bunch of other stuff. Negro isn't ever a swear word. There's a college fund that uses that word in it's name. I can't imagine swapping the other N-word in for it.

[nsafun05]

DD has a very valid point though. If a Republican would have said that, the Democrats would be up in arms. I Harry Reid may have a point and he may not. But because of his party affiliation, he's getting a pass.

[lacrew_2000]

I agree that what Reid said isn't that big a deal....but, the question was "Could a Republican say this?".

Probably not.

Here is the quote in question:

...said the country was ready for a black president – particularly a "light-skinned" one "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.

The most offensive part is his assumption that all Americans would use skin shade as a determining factor with their vote. Also, if I were dark skinned, I might feel slighted....or if I spoke with a 'negro dialect'. He is projecting his feelings onto other people. Just because he views people through the prism of skin color and dialect, it doesn't mean I do.

Do I think he should resign? No.

But the next time a republican uses the phrase 'you people' in front of Al Sharpton, I expect Al to let it slide, since Harry says its time to 'move on'.

[lacrew_2000]

While we're at it, here's Joe Biden's opinion of Obama

'I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy'...'Senator Joe Biden

What the hell does that mean. He must be comparing him to previous black candidates...Jesse Jackon, Al Sharpton, Alan Keyes. Apparently they were inarticulate, dumb, dirty and ugly.

Sure, its a dumb statement that came out wrong...but ask Trent Lott about how that works out if you don't have a 'D' by your name.

[dirty dog]

Originally Posted by Longermonger

Facts matter. At the bare minimum you omitted the word "dialect". That changes everything. You sort of left out the context in which the words were used, the background of the person that spoke them, the other people in the room, the apology that has already been made (to the ONE person due an apology), and a bunch of other stuff. Negro isn't ever a swear word. There's a college fund that uses that word in it's name. I can't imagine swapping the other N-word in for it.

Non of this matters, because the question was could a republican say this and get a pass or get away with it. The answer is no.

[lacrew_2000]

Here's another one from Biden:

"In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7/11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking."

Ask George Allen how well he fared after saying one solitary word that was offensive to Indians.

I might be getting carried away here...but I hate the hypocrisy and the storyline that one party cares about people, especially minorities, more than the other. I dislike most politicians from both parties...but the double standard irks me.

[dirty dog]

Originally Posted by lacrew_2000

Sure, its a dumb statement that came out wrong...but ask Trent Lott about how that works out if you don't have a 'D' by your name.

Exactly my point, its part of the Democratic effort to demonize all Republicans as racist. There is the automatic belief that the intent of the statement was mean and degrading, rather than just a slip of the tongue or stupid comment. If its a Republican the intent is always racist, if its a Democrat its just a mistake.

[dirty dog]

Originally Posted by lacrew_2000

:I might be getting carried away here...but I hate the hypocrisy and the storyline that one party cares about people, especially minorities, more than the other. I dislike most politicians from both parties...but the double standard irks me.

Amen

[Guest052813-01]

Any Republican or person who objects to Democrat party policies is subject to ridicule or derision by not only Democrats, but also their lackeys in the mainstream media. I will use the example of Rush Limbaugh's opinion voiced on ESPN about 5 years ago. Rush was hired by ESPN to express opinions and challenge the statements of the Sunday NFL Countdown panel. In week 5 he gave an opinion regarding the media's willingness to overlook the performance of Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb during the first four weeks of the season as well of previous seasons because the media had a desire for an African-American quarterback to succeed in the NFL. Now this was nowhere even close to being a racist opinion, but the media allowed pundits that had an agenda to create the illusion that all Republicans were racist to create the perception that Rush was racist and he should be kicked off ESPN. They succeeded, and it emboldened these pundits to be selective in their outrage so that any Republican making a statement, no matter how benign or insignificant, to be the worst kind of racist and any Democrat making a similar kind of statement to have simply made a mistake.

Should Harry Reid resign as the Majority Leader? If you use the example of Trent Lott, then yes. Should he resign from the Senate? Again, using the example of Trent Lott, no. Besides, he'll be voted out of office in November anyway.

[Guest072311]

Just remember gentleman to keep it proper and fair in your comments here. There is plenty of "sand" in the box to allow the "brown stuff" to settle to the bottom, where is that kitty anyway....respect others rights to disagree, no personal attacks. I pmed with one of the super mods here, he commented that threads are rarely closed by him. Self-regulation therefore is important.

My thought would that both sides have a tendence to "RUSH" to the same areas of misconception. Republicans have been ripped for saying less and they have make inapproriate comments just as Democrats have. The black chairman of the Republican Committee has been very measured in his comments but he has spoken. There are several black Republican members in the Congress as well who know what is going on.

Remember these are opinions so there is rarely a "right" answer, but rather our view of the sunset....?

[deepDARKdesires]

Damn, i am so tired of all the politicalbullshit, the entire process is so screwed up. If they spent 1/2 of the time trying to work on our countries problems, as they do battling back and forth, we would be a lot better off.

[john_galt]

The original question and answer is NO republicans could not say anything close (no matter how innocent) to what Reid said. Remember when Hillary was in St. Louis and she spoke of the Indian gas station/convience store owner...
How about H. Dean when coming up with an anology about a gathering of black people compared them to a meeting of the hotel kitchen staff, of course he was trying to say that is what republicans were thinking but it came out of Dean's head.
It is too bad that everyone is trying to saddle up on everyone else's faux pases instead protecting this country. If government would just get out of the way the economy will fix itself, self protection is the first order of business.

[Guest072311]

Originally Posted by deepDARKdesires

Damn, i am so tired of all the politicalbullshit, the entire process is so screwed up. If they spent 1/2 of the time trying to work on our countries problems, as they do battling back and forth, we would be a lot better off.

What would you like to see them do DARK? Honest question....we can start a seperate thread if others would like to contribute as well....

[Guest072311]

Originally Posted by john_galt

.... If government would just get out of the way the economy will fix itself, self protection is the first order of business.

And the first order of government JG?