Monday, January 11, 2010

REASON #1 WE DESPISE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS...'HYPOCRISY' Forgiveness for Reid, not for Lott, Imus


President Obama accepted an apology from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for comments he made during the 2008 campaign that are, well, racist. Before he was president, Obama wasn’t as gracious — calling for the ouster of Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and radio host Don Imus after they made controversial remarks.

From the New York Times:

Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, apologized on Saturday for once predicting that Barack Obama could become the country’s first black president because he was “light-skinned” and had “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

… President Obama quickly expressed support for Mr. Reid.

“I accepted Harry’s apology without question because I’ve known him for years. I’ve seen the passionate leadership he’s shown on issues of social justice, and I know what’s in his heart,” Mr. Obama said in a statement, adding that the remark was “unfortunate.” “As far as I am concerned, the book is closed.”

Reid’s comments are reported in the book Game Change, which also quotes former President Bill Clinton as saying some borderline racist things about then-candidate Obama.

The president’s forgiveness puts Reid’s comments in context with the rest of the senator’s career. Something Obama was loath to do for others before he became president.

In 2002, after Lott praised retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., Obama said the GOP should drive the new majority leader out. From the Weekly Standard:

Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D-13th), who hosted WVON’s Cliff Kelley Show, challenged the Republican Party to repudiate Lott’s remarks and to call for his resignation as senate leader.

“It seems to be that we can forgive a 100-year-old senator for some of the indiscretion of his youth, but, what is more difficult to forgive is the current president of the U.S. Senate (Lott) suggesting we had been better off if we had followed a segregationist path in this country after all of the battles and fights for civil rights and all the work that we still have to do,” said Obama.

He 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.” READ MORE...

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