I did a lot of running around yesterday, and being in the car I was able to listen to quite a bit of talk radio on my XM. From Andrew Wilcow to Sean Hannity to Mark Levin, the hot topic was Harry Reid.
For those who were under a rock yesterday, it was disclosed over the weekend that Harry Reid said the following during the 2008 campaign:
“Game Change,” a book about the 2008 Presidential election, hit store shelves Monday.
In the book, Senator Reid is quoted as saying America was ready for a Black president like Barack Obama, because he was “light-skinned” with “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
When asked about that comment, Reid said, “I’ve apologized to the President, I’ve apologized to everyone through the sound of my voice, that I could have used a better choice of words.”
Much was made about the nature of the comment, whether it was racist or racial, how it compared to Trent Lott’s praise of Strom Thurmond, the double standard between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to comments regarding race.
What it comes down to is if a Republican had said what Reid said, there would not have been Democrats calling all these talk shows to defend him like they did Reid. And there are no liberals in Washington, black, brown, white or whatever, who are going to throw Harry Reid under the bus for this.
He is safe. It’s the nature of the game.
What Republicans need to focus on is the real meaning of Reid’s statement. It wasn’t about Obama. It was about the voter.
According to Reid, the American people are so racist, they would not vote for a black man unless he was “light-skinned” and spoke with “no Negro dialect.” How insulting.
Reid has a history of insulting Americans, as do other Democrats.
Republicans need to take that and run with it. Show the American people the contempt Democrats have for them.
Fighting them on race is a losing game. But elitism is another story. That Republicans can win. They should add it to the toolbox for 2010.
