Warner Todd Huston at Big Government gives an excellent commentary on the recent Reid controversy as well as how the Left jumps through hoops to cover its ass whenever one of their own shows their true colors.
In the book Game Change penned by John Heilemann and Mark Halprin, Harry Reid is quoted as saying that people supported Obama because he was “light skinned,” and because he exhibited no “Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” This implies that Reid thinks dark skinned Negroes cannot win election. Since then the left has circled the wagons and refused to treat Reid as they’ve treated Republicans in similar instances. It’s an obvious double standard.
Now, we can look to no better authority on purported racism than The Root Magazine, an Internet publication founded in 2008 by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (he of Beer Summit fame) which is published by the Washington Post. Gates’ online magazine pretty much proves that this double standard is alive and well by its treatment of two situations of obvious racist sentiment from the left. Gate’s magazine summarily rejects the accusations of racism by these lefties.
First up we look at a post by Root writer Omar Wasow who proclaimed Harry Reid in the rights for his comments as reported by Game Change. Wasow wonders what the big deal is with Reid’s comments? He says it is true that white people will vote for a light skinned black over a dark skinned one and that it was true that Obama only utilized a black vernacular “when he wanted to.” Interestingly, Wasow saw nothing wrong with Obama shifting from proper English to black vernacular at will. Wasow said that just made Obama a good politician. He obviously doesn’t see this as a cynical political ploy at all.
……Wasow also decried the dismissal of “ebonics” as particularly racist against blacks but completely ignores the fact that in much of the country a deep southern accent in whites is treated in the same dismissive way as “ebonics” is treated in blacks. Rightly or wrongly, both are looked on as evidence of ignorance in the speaker, both considered evidence of a lowborn status. Why it is racist only to dismiss ebonics but not racist to assume a deep southern accent is evidence of a “lesser than” person Wasow does not say.
……Wasow and The Root Magazine are not looking for consistency, they are looking for ways to excuse racism by people they support in order to facilitate their success.
A second example concerns the “wise Latina” remark made by Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor. This piece was penned by Sherrilynn Ifill, cousin to PBS News correspondent Gwen Ifill. Sherrilynn is the same woman that in October of 2008 attacked Sarah Palin as “offensive to black women” merely because Palin portrayed herself as a mother as well as a politician.
……These are prime examples of the double standard that GOP Chair (Michael) Steele is pointing out. Racism is excused if it comes from the left. Reverend Jesse Jackson can call Jews “Hymies” with little fear of consequences. Al Sharpton has a long history of race baiting and suffers no recriminations. Any number of Hollywood entertainers, songsters, and journalists that come from the left end of the political spectrum can say any sort of comment that would be considered wholly racist were they to come from a conservative yet none of them are ever required to suffer any consequences as a result. But let a conservative say anything remotely construed as racist and calls for their head on a pike are heard all up and down the line.
……Senator Trent Lott was hounded out of leadership in 2002 for making some complimentary remarks about Senator Strom Thurmond at his retirement party. Republicans have now gone on to call for Reid’s removal as Senate Majority Leader in a similar vein to Lott’s situation. Naturally Democrats have demurred from demanding that Reid step down and Republicans are calling this a classic example of the left’s double standard. It is clear that incidents such as this are used to destroy Republicans but similar incidents when involving Democrats are swept under the rug.
Read the rest here: http://biggovernment.com/2010/01/12/the-left-bending-over-backwards-to-excuse-racism/
The Left hates it when their own words are flung back at them. Moreover, they really hate it when they get grabbed by the scruff of the neck and hauled up in front of the public court of accountability.
Related Post: