Academic

FOLLOWING IN TRENT LOTT?S FOOTSTEPS: Harry Reid apologizes for ?light skinned? remark about Obama. ?

By Glenn Reynolds

FOLLOWING IN TRENT LOTT’S FOOTSTEPS: Harry Reid apologizes for “light skinned” remark about Obama.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) apologized today for referring to President Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect” in private conversations during the 2008 presidential campaign.

“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,” said Reid in a statement. “I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments.”

President Obama said in a statement that he and Reid had spoken about the matter on Saturday afternoon. “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,” said Obama. “As far as I am concerned, the book is closed.”

Also, he needs him for health care. Here’s more coverage from CNN.

Dan Riehl comments: “Thank God Reid isn’t a Republican, or he’d be being savaged as a racist. We all know that’s not true. They aren’t racists. They simply don’t believe blacks can be successful without being helped by a white person. That isn’t racism, silly. It’s compassion, or so we’re told.”

And Robert George is not kind.

UPDATE: “Speaking Stupid All The Time.” I don’t really think Reid will follow too far in Trent Lott’s footsteps, though. Obama wants him to stay — and, I suspect, so do the Republicans . . . .

Meanwhile, on Facebook, Bruce Bartlett posts some other racial statements by Democrats, from his book Wrong On Race: The Democratic Party’s Buried Past.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Drudge has fun:

Meanwhile, a reader emails: “There went his chance at owning a football team.” Heh.

MORE: Over at Talking Points Memo, where Trent Lott came in for plenty of criticism, reader Brian Torrez notes that there’s currently . . . nothing about Reid’s remarks at all. Well, people blog about what they find interesting and apparently this doesn’t interest ‘em. I’ll note that I was on the Lott story, though . . . . (Bumped).

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on January 09, 2010 (boomark / email).