- MENU
- HOME
- SEARCH
- WORLD
- MAIN
- AFRICA
- ASIA
- BALKANS
- EUROPE
- LATIN AMERICA
- MIDDLE EAST
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Benelux
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Korea
- Mexico
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Poland
- Russia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Taiwan
- Turkey
- USA
- BUSINESS
- WEALTH
- STOCKS
- TECH
- HEALTH
- LIFESTYLE
- ENTERTAINMENT
- SPORTS
- RSS
- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Paul Bedard
Harry Reid's Reported Racial Gaffe (© Matt Wuerker
Moving fast to take advantage of the highly controversial words about Barack Obama's race from Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, Republicans are mining past Democratic comments decrying
At the center of their attention is the case of Sen. Trent Lott, who in 2002 stepped down from his leadership role after making racial comments.
"We are having a field day digging up quotes from '02 showing a clear double standard from how Democrats reacted to the Lott comments versus their reaction to Reid," said a key Republican official. In 2002, while at an event for Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Lott said that if the country had followed Mississippi's presidential vote in 1948, "we wouldn't have had all these problems over these years." In the following days, the comments were called racist as Democrats said Lott was advocating Thurmond-style segregation even though Lott's aides said he was just saying something nice about the senator.
Reid used much starker language in supporting Obama, referring to his skin color and "Negro dialect," according to the new campaign book Game Change.
However, Republicans are not planning to make Reid's comments a federal case and instead seem to want only to embarrass him.
The reason is that they don't want him to bow out of his re-election in Nevada where they have a better
than even chance of beating him. "There is a fear, however, that inflicting too much damage will cause him not to file for
re-election," said a
The first evidence of the quote search effort came earlier today when the National Republican Senatorial Committee found
old Reid quotes poking fun at Lott over the Thurmond affair. Said the NRSC: "In light of controversial racially derogatory
statements by U.S. Senator Harry Reid (
"At the time, Reid called Lott's statements 'repugnant' and responded to Lott's resignation as Senate Majority Leader by stating that Lott 'had no alternative' but to step down because he had 'dug himself a hole ... and he couldn't figure out a way to get out of it.' "
Available at Amazon.com:
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
AMERICAN POLITICS
WORLD | AFRICA | ASIA | EUROPE | LATIN AMERICA | MIDDLE EAST | UNITED STATES | ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS
GOP Mining Old Stories on Harry Reid and Race | Paul Bedard
© Tribune Media Services