Updates below.
I'm having a hard time getting worked up about the latest Leftist hypocrisy. There's a new book out about the 2008 presidential election that, among other things, exposes Harry Reid as an idiot--who knew? The book is Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters. They report Harry Reid as referring to candidate Barack Obama as a "light-skinned" man with "no negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." All of which is true, but I guess it's offensive to point out Obama's skin color and faux black speak unless it's done for purposes of helping him get elected--first Black president and all. I mean, come on, what was Harry really saying there--that Barack Obama fakes a black dialect when he needs to in order to court the black vote. Which, by the way, was true. Why aren't blacks insulted by that? Why?
Whoops, Harry.
So Harry Reid came out on Saturday and apologized because he knows the book is due out on Monday, and then they all had a Kumbaya kissy-fest with Obama saying (of course) "I accept Harry Reid's apology without question," and also of course Al Sharpton instantly forgave Harry Reid for his dumb remarks.
So then the next step would be to take a look at the hypocrisy of Obama "without question" accepting Reid's apology when as a Senator he called for the head of Republican Trent Lott in 2002 when Lott made similarly innocuous remarks at a Strom Thurmond birthday party [It was a BIRTHDAY PARTY, for God's sake, where one Southern gentleman was saying nice things about another (elder) Southern gentleman--didn't anyone ever hear about southern manners and how you treat your elders--Thurmond was ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLD for God's sake.] Railed the Junior Senator from Illinois, “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.”
But really, why bother? Pointing out Leftist hypocrisy is like reporting on Dog Bites Man (apologies to my canine friends). And frankly, the pettiness of the discourse in Washington is really getting on my last nerve, especially when there's actual important work that they might be doing instead.
Reid also is reported in the book as saying, "You're not going to go anyplace here," Reid told Obama of the Senate. "I know that you don't like it, doing what you're doing." --Which I think is actually the more interesting quote from the book, considering how Obama doesn't much seem to like his job as president all that much, either. That seems to be something of a "thing" with him--take a job, use the job to get another, bigger job, rinse and repeat. That's why the King of the World job in Europe has got to be looking pretty good to him about now.
Big Journalism has a complete recounting of the statements, the apologies, the forgiveness, and the hypocrisy.
The book, Game Change, out tomorrow, looks like it will be rather hilarious, for both sides of the political spectrum. "This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it." —Barack Obama, September 2008
Update. Harry Reid evidently has quite a record of using the "you're a racist" card on people. "Harry Reid's History of Racial Posturing" by Patterico lays out the issue pretty well. For example, when Bill Bennett made an arguably true but racially controversial statement, Reid led the parade calling for Bennett to make an "immediate apology to the country."
Patterico also points out Reid's "bizarre treatment" of black Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, declaring him "an embarrassment to the Supreme Court."
Patterico suggests that there's enough in Harry Reid's background about the issue of race in order to see his comments about Barack Obama's light skin and Negro dialect as "a little window into Harry's soul." It goes without saying, if Reid had an "R" behind his name, he would be gone.
Update #2. Here's Ann Coulter, eating Al Sharpton's lunch on Geraldo on Sunday night.
Ann: "Oh come on, you cannot keep giving Democrats a pass. . . .You know you would not put up with it for five seconds if it were a Republican. . . . You went after Mit Romney for being a Mormon, I might add. . . . You guys are just like the feminists, using your ideological charge of 'racisism' against your enemies."
When asked her predication for Harry Reid's Senate race in 2010, Ann shut both Geraldo and Sharpton up with this comment: "I think despite Senator Reid apologizing to all African Americans, light-skinned, medium-skinned, dark-skinned, I still think he will lose."
I love Ann Coulter. h/t to HotAir for the video
Update #3. Here are some remarks made on Monday by Harry Reid about Republicans calling for him to resign. Let me guess. Harry thinks he's a standup guy who was saying something "nice" about the light-skinned, no-Negro-dialect 2008 presidential candidate, Barry Obama. Big surprise, he never did answer the question about whether he should resign.
Harry says he's proud he was one of the first people to suggest BO run for president. His heart is warmed by the response he's gotten about his remarks around the country.
"We have a lot to do. I will continue to do my very best for the State of Nevada and this country. I appreciate people writing nice things about me--the L.A. Times, the Huffingtonpost--I am very proud of the fact . . . telling Barack Obama he could be elected president. My conversations with the highest-ranking African-Americans in Congress--I feel good about these people reaching out to me. I have apologized to everyone within the sound of my voice. As a very young man in Nevada I was one of the leaders in the Civil Rights movement."
Harry said that Dept. of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said to him, "You make sure you tell everybody that you have done more for diversity in the United States Senate than anybody." Reid said the African American leaders in Nevada have been "wonderful. I'm not going to dwell on this anymore, it's in the books, I've made all the statements I'm going to."
Move along everyone, this is a Democrat, there's nothing to see here.
Michael Steele has called for Harry Reid to step down from his leadership job in the Senate. Some disagree: Let's have Reid continue on in his position because it helps the Republican cause to have a Democrat that ignorant leading the Senate. I tend to agree. The Black Caucus, the NAACP, Eric Holder, and Obama, and even Harry Reid himself have all called for the country to move on. So be it. Is it racism or ignorance on the part of Harry Reid? My guess? Ignorance. Harry Reid is an ignorant man. Let him continue as the Majority Leader in the Senate.
Update on the book, Game Change. From the L.A. Times: "'Game Change': Is the Book Gossip or Journalism?" Heilemann and Halperin defend their book: Gossip is that which is unverified.... Everything in our book is factual.
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