It All Depends On Who's Saying It

By now, we have all read and/or heard about Harry Reid's comments regarding Barack Obama in the book, Game Change. In case you missed it somehow, Reid said (and has since apologized for) this:

(he) privately described then-candidate Barack Obama during the presidential campaign as a black candidate who could be successful thanks in part to his “light-skinned” appearance and speaking patterns "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

Needless to say, plenty of people on both sides are talking about the implications of these comments, though you have the president saying he knows what's in Reid's heart and has already moved past it, of the NY Times playing it off as basically being what Obama himself said about himself. Don't forget Al Sharpton who, naturally, forgives Reid for HIS comments, but Bill Clinton over his "serve us coffee" remark? The one who has done so much for the AA community throughout his life (not to mention work he does throughout the world with the Clinton Foundation as my buddy, Nunly, pointed out. And you can make a donation there to help people in Haiti.)?? Not so much. (Again, I see that comment as one being more about Obama's lack of experience, and being more prepared to be an aide than a president, not about race.)

There is a greater double standard about which we may have forgotten since so much crapola has happened between then and now. Remember how Geraldine Ferraro was treated as if she was a freakin' member of the KKK, all for speaking the exact same words Obama himself had spoken?? Just take a little trip down Memory Lane. I am sure it will all come flooding back to you:



Uh huh. That's right, Howard - that's just how the Clinton Campaign rolls - they are just a bunch of racists for defending this woman. Spare me.

I don't actually watch this blowhole anymore, but has Olbermann called for REID, the Senate Majority Leader, to be "fired immediately"? How about Maddow? Is she acting with the same righteous indignation over Harry Reid as she did over Ferraro?? I am going to say, No. They are not. Neither one of them. Because they are raging hypocrites. But we already knew that.

Then there is this lovely compilation to bring it all home:



Right? Ferraro took SO much fire for those comments. She was raked over the coals, yet Harry Reid with his comments from around the same time? Oh, no problem - he's really a good guy at heart, not the least bit racist despite what he said, so no harm, no foul. Just move along folks, nothing to see, no need to keep harping on this. It's just politics, that's all, not the least bit racist. Uh huh, sure. (I have to say, though, the way Ferraro was treated made her almost immediate flip to the Obama camp just that much more disturbing, and destroyed her credibility with me.)

What a bunch of hypocrites. It's okay for the most powerful man in the Senate to make racist comments - and I'm sorry, but calling a bi-racial person a "Negro" in 2008 IS racist, not to mention the dialect comment, which also highlights Obama's chameleon-like abilities - but not for a woman who is essentially quoting Obama. No, SHE is a racist.

Not for nothing, but Ferraro was also making the not-so-subtle-point that no way in HELL would a woman ever, EVER, be considered a viable candidate if she had the resume, or lack thereof, that Obama did. Heck, as it was, the DNC picked Obama with his 143 days in the Senate when he started to run, over a woman FAR more qualified than he was, so Ferraro had a point. Ya gotta give her that.

What an upside down country we live in now. I thought it was bad with Bush. I never dreamed it could get worse, and it surely has...