Let’s Not Be Race Hucksters Like the Dems
Senator Harry Reid is a corrupt statist, embodying everything wrong with the 111th U.S. Congress. But he isn’t a bigot. Reid deserves, and will likely receive, a humiliating electoral defeat in November. But he doesn’t deserve a coerced resignation, which would most assuredly be spun as a moment of grand martyrdom. So to my fellow citizens, particularly conservatives, I say: lay off Mr. Reid and take his newly released 2008 remarks regarding President Obama’s race — “light-skinned,” no “Negro dialect” — for what they are: a little insulting and a little accurate (more on that later).
But first, the gist of it: It’s unbecoming — and plain wrong — to attack a man’s character based on a moment of flippancy and poor phraseology. That’s what the race hucksters on the left have done to conservatives for years. They’re wrong to do so. Why then would conservatives like Michael Steele feel justified in replicating such cheap behavior themselves? Two wrongs do not make a right.
Republicans lament the 2002 treatment of Senator Trent Lott, which is understandable. Lott’s a fine man, but was nationally smeared by Democrats as a racist and compelled to resign from the Senate for saying some kind words about the ex-segregationist Strom Thurmond on his 100th birthday. If Lott resigned for saying what he said, Reid should resign for saying what he said, Republicans bemoan.
But this is childlike tit-for-tat nonsense. Rather than devolve into racial hucksterism, Republicans should instead merely illuminate the double standards and leave it at that. The American people are smart and fair enough to decide who is and isn’t out of line. We have long recognized the double standard on all things racial. Namely: liberals can say what conservatives cannot and black people can say what white people would not.
It is pointless to go over the entire litany of examples, but contrast the tarnished reputation of a George Allen (of “macaca” fame) with the non-reactions to a Blagojevich (“blacker than Obama”) or a Biden (Obama’s “clean, articulate”). Does anyone not now concede that had it been Gingrich or Giuliani — and not the self-described first black president, Mr. Clinton — to utter Obama should “be getting us coffee,” there would today be cries of racism and not relative silence? Does anyone deny that had it been John McCain who attended a “white separatist” church for twenty years — praying alone in his basement with his “white liberationist” pastor who screeched from the pulpit that white people who killed other white people were killing the wrong enemy — McCain would have had to not only drop out of the presidential race, but resign from the Senate in shame as well? You get the point.
The problem is not Mr. Reid’s comments, but rather the inane hullabaloo we as a nation go through every time somebody, somewhere, says something that could potentially be perceived as racially insensitive to someone. We not only ruin careers, reputations, and livelihoods, but we make jackasses out of ourselves. Such political correctness replaces candor with cowardice. Wouldn’t it be better to have elected officials say what they mean and mean what they say?
Well,boo frickin’ hoo…I’m all broken up about Harry Reid’s poor ‘phraseology’….but this clown and his ideological cohorts are doing their best to fiscally enslave the rest of us for the rest of eternity and to circumscribe our liberties…and for some reason,I just can’t help but think that when your enemy falls down,you should kick him while he is down and keep him down….time and time again,we are exhorted to play nice while the other side does all it can to implement a socialist/statist agenda “by any means necessary”…well,I’m sorry,but I’m damn tired of always getting the dirty end of the stick again and again and again…and if Reid can be destroyed or fatally damaged by his latest verbal faux pas,then I for one intend to take advantage of it….like,for instance,doing all I can to punish the son for the sins of the father as he runs for Governor of Utah….the last thing we need is yet another Reid trying to create yet another family political dynasty….so with all due respect,I’m going to take a personal interest in the political demise of Harry Reid and ignore your well meaning but impertinent advice.
“Childlike”…SHMILDLIKE!
This is all about power, not a manners-fest
(see those orderly British “Redcoats” versus the guerilla-like American Revolutionaries).
This states it well: http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=14978
Reid’s remark is not racist. It just reflects that Obama’s candidacy was a media event, similar to global warming, brought to us by the Democratic Party.
Excellent piece! You summed up the situation and the proper response perfectly. I printed it and have shared it.
What a pretentious crock of nothing.
Using the (supposed) empirical importance of his own professional position in life, Mr. Guariglia gets his own brand and style of racist gouges, digs and insults in by advising others not to engage the enemy.
How about we do things this way? Instead of the normal, sooooo sophisticated wait until they smack us give them a little return love pat on the cheek method, we put into effect a two hit system.
“We hit them, they hit the ground.” No fuss, no mess, game over! Some puppies are more difficult to train than others, but sooner or later every one of them will learn that it isn’t a good idea to poop on their master’s floor.
This is not a game where you win by “turning the other cheek”. Republicans were right to hit back hard because it will make the democrats think twice next time before pulling out the race card. I saw what seemed like hundreds of commentators and even many democrats admitting that there is a double standard. That’s a good thing because it helps expose the charade. If Republicans were to have followed your advice and laid off of Reid, then it merely sends the message that the double standard is okay and justified. It was important to show a strong display of outrage over the comment. It’s going to blow over in one week anyway, why not score a few points during that week and perhap lay the groundwork for eventually bringing down this double standard.
Nicholas – spot-on. It’s the double-standard that must be emphasized. As I alluded to elsewhere on PMJ, the Republicans have become somewhat like the Jews of Europe. Those Jews had a Yiddish expression for the double standard there: “Er khen aber mir khenna nicht” – translated: “He can, but we can’t.” The Democrats, who were on the wrong side of the Civil War, apparently can go around saying all kinds of things about blacks whether true or not, but let a Republican state a fact about blacks, and the Republican is branded a racist.
Pointing out and holding a person to account for their actions and words does point directly to the hypocrisy and ridiculous cries emanating from the left. An exam of the Clinton Scandal and his protection by feminist groups took the sharp edge off their previous claims. It brought equilibrium to their charges, and basically neutered their position as a result of their exposure.
Furthermore, we are at war, a civil war with the left’s socialist take over. To fight any enemy a force better be able to use any means to win. Going to a gun fight with the attitude that “I will not stoop to that low,” will not render anything but overwhelming defeat. Remember, only the winners dictate what is correct for the society that they envision. Note that winning WWII has meant that we are not speaking German or Japanese! We dictate history not the losers. Let us also remember, if we are going to fight for what we believe, there will be metaphoric blood because we need to gain the initiative and bloody them. Their PC will never stop because it is working to shut conservatives up because of their “We will not stoop to that low attitude.” Graves are filled with people from history that chose to submit, and not fight. Trust that the left will beat the conservative movement into the grave any way they can. So we have a choice, do we roll-over and submit or fight???
I choose to fight because I am an American. Note the last four letters of the word American, I CAN!
Retired SF
Mr. Guariglia, no offense but I think most people get it. The double standard in press treatment of conservatives is a given, but can’t we just enjoy the irony of the current situation?
I am tired of these kinds of attacks. Surely these politicians and journalists can think of something else to say about Reid. As for the Republicans, if they can’t come up with something better to criticize Reid for, they need to keep quiet. The man is a gift, he will probably lose his seat in the upcoming election, so talk about something substantive.
First of all, let’s get one thing clear: this is politics not pachinko.
Republicans, Tea Partiers, conservatives, libertarians, etc. are all famous for winning the battle and losing the war. That is to say, we (and I include myself in all of the above groups to some degree)tend NOT to get involved in politics UNLESS there is some over-arching, all important crisis: such as installing a socialist as President of the United States.
Liberals, progressives, socialists, Chavistas, Maoists, Leninists, Trotskyites, Marxists, fascists, communists, Che t-shirt wearers, etc. on the other hand, all live to control other peoples lives 24/7.
That is to say, they are students of the tactic of unrelenting pressure to achieve their goal, Totalitarianism, and, thus, to win the war.
Case in point: Sarah Palin. Here is someone who lost the election as a candidate for Vice President two years ago, is a private citizen, and according to the unrelenting left-wing attack machine is dumb, obtuse, cruel, hateful, and possibly should be deprived of her right to free speech.
Contrast Sarah’s case to that of “Bozo the Clown,” AKA “Harry Reid,” our Senate Majority Leader.
“Bozo” deserves all the flack he can get for the rest of his life for:
a. Making stupid statements, like, “We lost the war in Iraq” before we won it and Obama is a great candidate because “he doesn’t speak in a Negroe dialect” unless he wants to.
b. Making even stupider policy decisions like trying to undermine support for the War in Iraq while soldiers lives were at stake FOR PURELY POLITICAL PURPOSES and advancing socialist healthcare legislation when only a third of the nation supports it, again, FOR PURELY POLITICAL PURPOSES.
“Bozo” is a dork.
Let’s NOT let anyone forget that–no matter what the reason, and for however long it takes to convince people–for POSTERITY.
Bull. They should get a taste of their own medicine. Maybe the so-called moderates in the country will begin to understand what a load of crap PC really is.
I think the point is not that Senator Smeagol is a racist. The point is that the left in general and the Dems in particular are hypocrites and demagogues. Most of the commentary on the right has been to the effect of “by the standards used against {insert GOPer/conservative smeared as a rascist here}, Harry Reid is a racist.” By pounding a clown like Reid with the same club that he has used for so long, this point is being made – and made well.
“…this is childlike tit-for-tat nonsense.”
Damn right! The right needs to keep their mouths shut. How childlike to turn the tables on the left by using their tactics. It would be so much nicer if the right would just be quiet and not present any view on any topic. What a wonderful world it would be.
Exactly…this is what I’ve been telling people. In fact, any conservative candidate running for office, or already in office, can stonewall any sort of racial question or statement posed to him by simply stating that he/she does not judge people or their merits by the color of their skin.
My point is that we need to force these race-baiters to articulate their position (which they cannot, of course), instead of reacting to them and playing their game.
Shouldn’t you have said this before you spent a week being hucksters of race?
I found out only yesterday that Ward Connerly also believes Harry Reid did nothing wrong. Many people of color share his opinions. We do not always live in a fair world. A lighter skinned black person is probably deemed less threatening by a decent percentage of whites. This is something a political analyst cannot ignore. Alas, we are often compelled to deal with the flawed human beings that actually exist—and not those who are figments of our imagination. Sounding like a rap artist would have doomed Obama from even being considered a serious political candidate. Does any rational person doubt this for a moment? Why do so many Americans allow the politically correct establishment to determine what we can say to each other? It is foolish for conservatives to jump on this bandwagon.
If this was merely a genteel and civil debate between two relatively civilized parties, I would agree with you, but it has become much more than that, and much more serious.
When leftists were just a few wierdo professors, some college age rabble and the like, it was easy to take the high road and be dismissive of the danger they presented. Since the 1960s however, the left has taken over the academy and the teaching professions to churn out marginally more “progressive” graduates every year, and Hollywood has strived to move the culture way left, while the formerly mainstream media has provided the cover for this shift. Now the left is too big and strong to be treated with kid gloves anymore.
This has become a fight to the death – of one side or the other. I do not wish it to be the demise of our side.
The right has always had some attachment to honor, integrity and honesty. The Alinsky Rules for Radicals, which are based solely on the end justifying the means, has allowed the left to scratch, claw, cheat, lie, intimidate, manipulate, and distort, which is why it is difficult to have a clean fight with them.
We have always entered the ring ready to battle with Marquis of Queensbury rules, and our opponent enters the ring with a baseball bat with protruding nails, with the ref and the judges bought off already. Don’t you just love being able to say we took the moral high ground while we’re being carted off to the ER?
This is not just a debate any longer, it is now war, and we’d better be willing to fight it to win, or we’ll lose, and have perpetual 1984.
…lay off Mr. Reid and take his newly released 2008 remarks regarding President Obama’s race — “light-skinned,” no “Negro dialect” — for what they are: a little insulting and a little accurate (more on that later).
I agree the Reid comment has been overblown, perhaps partially in payback for what happened to Trent Lott, but, nevertheless, overly hyped.
…the double standard on all things racial. Namely: liberals can say what conservatives cannot and black people can say what white people would not.
The only “standard” liberals follow is that if one of their own (from Dodd to Rangel to Reid to anyone) does or says something obviously wrong, glaringly crooked or just plain dumb, the excuse machine immediately gets switched on, full tilt and he/she/it gets a pass.
It’s a double standard on all things, not just racial.
Was he suggesting Obama manipulatively concocted such a dialect from time to time, as he clearly did in a March 2007 speech in Selma, Alabama?…But there Barack was, a black presidential candidate in front of an all-black audience, getting his jive on, third-person references and all. “There’s some good craziness goin’ on,” he rhythmically intoned, alluding to his parents supposedly meeting at the famous civil rights march in Selma. The whole thing was phony, of course — and not just the dialect and faux showmanship, but the facts. (The march was in 1965; Obama was born in 1961.)
It was really transparent, pathetic even, when Obama altered his speech patterns and intonation in order to appeal to particular audiences.
Reminds me of Hillary’s faux claim of having been named after Sir Edmund Hillary. Wot’s with these liberals, their braggadocio and false claims to notoriety ?
Do they feel they have carte blanche to just say any old thing, and the base buys it ? Well, they may have a point, given how eager said base is to make excuses for them in all things.
Well I’m so glad that in your own self righteousness you are ok with Reid suggesting that all Americans are too racist to elect a dark skinned candidate. Of course Obama forgives him, he was talking about us. Thanks fr showing justhow oblivious you are to that fact.
Plain old hucksters will do. The tea party convention is a pyramid scheme, and your hero Sarah Palin is collecting 100,000 dollars to speak at it. Its okay, no one expects anything more from you people, as they recognize that you come from a long line of people born with the word “sucker” stamped on your forehead.
I see the author’s point, but taking the high road regarding racial double-standards has not yielded any advantages all these years (nor has republican racial pandering which is another matter).
I suggest the left be confronted when they fail to comply with their own rules on racism. It illuminates their hypocracy and the tactical nature of false accusations of racism that are constantly levelled against conservatives.
At this time in history, libertarians are the radicals, and perhaps we can partake in some of alinsky’s methods that have helped the liberals seize control of the organs of government, education, and media.
No sir. We all play by the same rules, or we call the game off. If doing the racial two step is what is demanded, if that is necessary to level the playing field, then let us proceed amain. The bottom line in this contest is prevailing. Let moral smugness be damned.
Sorry, the article was certainly well-written, but I simply don’t agree with the author. Until the Dems get slapped up side the head with the same repercussions from their race-huckstering as the Republicans, they’re going to continue to use this phony “racism” issue as a weapon. Only when they begin to suffer the same consequences will they give it up.
So, another RINO that want us to bring a knife to a gunfight! Politics is hardball and because of opinions like yours we lose way to often. Conservatives are 40% of the population yet we lose elections all the time because we just wanna’ be nice. WRONG. Reid has slammed the right and GOP so amny times it isn’t funny. What was the last one? how we’re all like the folks that supported slavery because we want some THOUGHT and TIME put into deliberations on Healthcare????!!!
Take your “blanky” and go back to recess. Let the rest of us take on the leftist statists who are raping the country while you stand and watch and ask them top just play nice. Jeeeesh.
I agree with it seems the majority of posters here. You have to fight fire with fire and being nice may win friends but loses wars. The assumption at fault here is the belief that the other side will see the error of their ways and engage in the same type of civil discussion. HOGWASH! It is not the comment, it is the hipocracy, stupid.
what a crock! “forgive and forget”? You are missing the point. These democrat fakes are ignoring exactly what they slaughtered Trent Lott and forced his resignation as leader of the Senate. Mendacity by the media toward equal faux pas is the perfect example of payola.
As a Southerner, I saw nothing false about what Harry Reid said, and this is a lesson where PC trumps truth. Blacks have a hierarchy based on skin tone, and light skinned blacks are called “high yellow” in their community.
Dare I comment on the overt policy of blacks procreating with unattractive white women? Too true to utter. Dare I comment on the health benefits for blacks, regarding sicle cell anemia, of race mixing? Too true to utter. They know it, though.
I remember during the bitterly contested presidential election of 2000, as they were counting the votes for the umpteenth time, hunting for the elusive chad, and Jesse Jackson decided to bus in the usual suspects, a warm feeling flooded by bosom as a ‘mob’ of well dressed, middle class folk decided that enough was enough and showed up in Florida to express their outrage outside of the recount center. Oh the horror. The MSM were unprepared for this. The nerve of these people. Heretofore only Jackson, Sharpton, and their minions were allowed to do this. But it clearly helped prevent our Liberal friends from stealing another election (remember how JFK stole the election from RMN?). I’m all for fairness. If tht entails turning the Libs own weapons of choice on themselves, so be it. Or as Josef Stalin remarked, after exterminating the Kulaks, ‘no more Mr. nice guy’.
In my view, this incident should be exposed and expounded not to condemn The-war-is-lost-Harry Reid, who is a loser, but to expose the corruptness of the gotcha politics by amplifying and distorting a private remark. The only thing I like about this is the comical spectacle of this has brought on the Left
When I first read about the remark, I thought Harry Reid was clearly a racist. But upon thinking more and more about it in the context of his words, I think he was basically expressing his view of the general sentiments of the voters, rather than his personal belief.
On the other hand, What Bill Clinton allegedly had said, “ … this guy would be bring us coffee …” was far more personal and condescending, and unmistakably racist.
I was insulted by Reid’s remarks. He insinuated that “We the people” would only vote for a “lightskinned” person because the majority are racist. He didn’t owe Obama an apology, he owed the American people an apology. I will be very happy when he loses his Senate seat. His comments disgusted me to no end.
Bathe Reid in the liberal hypocrisy, but this must be demostrated by keeping the spotlight on Reid & the media’s defense of the Democrats when they walk right into a egg on their faces.
For Senator Harry Reid to have described Barack Hussein Obama as “light-skinned” with no “Negro dialect” is no evidence of “racism” at all. It is an accurate description. He could have added that Obama is not an American “black” or “Negro,” in the sense that he is not the descendant of American slaves. “Negro” is a polite term, though old-fashioned. It was the racist Black Panthers who attacked its use and wanted to use “black” instead.
My objections to Senator Reid are to his behavior about Health Care. He and his fellow undemocratic Democrats want to force their Health Care plan on the nation, regardless of how much opposition there is to it. He is dishonest, and I do not understand how he has come to be the Majority Leader in the Senate.
Pathena
Why?? Because he embodies the ethos of the Democrat Party.
The author is saying that this subject is bigger than Harry Reid. Bashing Harry Reid specifically just gives the Leftists an opportunity to circle the wagons on his behalf. But they can’t easily circle the wagons around their basic support of a gross double standard and PC totalitarianism. There are sooo many examples of the double standard at work that they can’t defend them all if we bring them all into the light.
I’ll try to explain this as clear as possible. The best way to handle foot in the mouth type racial statements is to explain
what you meant, say it was inartfully said and move on. If it’s a Democrat who said it, the most effective thing to do is exactly
what Democrats do. Defend the speaker. Talk about all the good things the speaker’s done. And use the media to keep mum about it.
If it’s a Republican who makes the racial foot-in-the-mouth type statement, a la Trent Lott, the most effective thing to do is exactly
what Democrats do. Defend the speaker. Talk about all the good things the speaker’s done. And move on. Treat it like yesterday’s news.
Attack reporter’s questions about it like they’re trying to make a mountain out of a moll hill and talk about the hypocritical treatment Republicans get vis-a-vie Republicans. Question the ethics of the reporters and their news organization.
Remember, it’s the scared rabbit Republicans who forced Lott to resign, not the Democrats and media who just stoked the fire. Democrats and the mainstream media are paper tigers. Attack them for their hypocrisy and lack of ethics. But if Republicans find the kitchen too hot, maybe politics
isn’t for you.
Everything else just confuses the issue.
It’s just sickenin’ seein’ all this public kowtowin’ today…But that’s the point of it…humility…That’s what any emperor thinks…Bendin’ over an ‘Bowin’ down seems to be all the fashion…Nuthin’ worth livin’ for comes outta it…It jest grinds you up like dog food and lethal injection for the unfavored. Human beings are all of one stripe..That’s old news…Some mightier power made ‘em that way…long time ago…When they start comin’ together, it’s for one reason only…Power play…whether it’s as friends, family, teams, employment, nations, races…etc..So you better be equipped ta hit back with a stick of equivalency or bigger…..Because if they’re hittin’ you with “family”…you can’t just beat ‘em off with “friends”…If their hittin’ you with a “nation” you can’t just beat ‘em off with “family”…An’ if they start hittin’ you with “race”…A nation’s gonna need sumethin’ more ta hit back with…That’s why America is NOT about “race” because “race” is a bigger weapon then the USA …There’s yer problem..So what are you gonna do about it? Like I said before, “race” is sumethin’ yer parents an’ the mightier powers determine. Ev’ry body wants to be the mightier “power’ though…It’s seems more secure that way in terms of choice and survival..But yer parents most likely did it these days jest fer the aesthetics of it. But those aesthetics have consequence. If yer even discussing “race” yer not talking about survival of human beings…Yer just talking about an excess, ego and excuse.
I agree with the article completely. It is better to let the hypocrites placate themselves for a short while. There really is nothing there, and to pursue Reid’s racism is only justifying the Liberal’s past hooplas against conservatives. Justice will prevail. Just be patient. Everything will be recompensed, but this is not the time to bare teeth.
How much more valuable is a stored shot than an errant???
The man who keeps his word is the man who is never heard….thereby revealing his allegiances.
The man who keeps his word is just a man who is never heard. They are forced to use alternative modes of expression, thereby revealing allegiances.
So lets see if I get this Nicolas we should not attack the RACIST remarks from Harry Reid we should just allow the MSM and the PC MC Dems to sweep it all under the carpet as though nothing happened and continue with their vile ad hominem attacks on Sarah Palin unabated. Yeah right!!!!!!! Why not lets roll over too and let them scratch our tummy’s while we lick their hands.
Forget party ethos… those who really know how Reid operates behind closed doors will tell you that these statements are some of the mildest he blurts-out… he redefines how low sleazy politicians will go when they’re away from the active microphone…
41. Harry Reid’s remarks were NOT racist.
btw; Got punctuation? How about a clue…?