I despise Harry Reid as much as any thoughtfully discriminating
conservative should, but I've got to give him a pass on that "racist" gaffe spotlighted now by the new 2008-campaign gossip book, Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.On page 37, the book quotes Harry in a "privately spoken" remark about Barack Obama's racial appeal. Though Reid would later say that he was neutral in the presidential race, the truth, the authors write, was that his
"encouragement of Obama was unequivocal. He was wowed by Obama's oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama -- a 'light-skinned' African American 'with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,' as he said privately. Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama's race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination."
Obviously, the allegedly offending words and phrases here are "light-skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."
Most Democrats have kissed those unique references off as no big deal, much ado about nothing, including the prez himself; most Republicans have called for Harry's head, or at least his ouster.
The Royal Affrontee himself has obligatorily forgiven Reid, declaring reverently, "This is a good man who has always been on the right side of history. For him to have used some inartful language in trying to praise me and for people to try to make hay out of that makes absolutely no sense."
Oh for God's sake... "Inartful" language? Geez...talk about euphemistic bullshit... And psssst, Barry...a little correction: Reid's always been on the left side of history; the guy's a goddamned communist. "...to praise me..." Yeah, Barry, it's always about you, savior of the planet. Who could miss that?
Harry's mouth is no prayer book, but it seems he was speaking truth and reality for once in his miserable life.
Let's analyze what he said:
• Light-skinned. Well, look at him. (We've conveniently provided a picture at right.) He's the progeny of a white
mother and an African (Kenyan) black father, so he's neither white nor ebony black — he's kind of a darkish (note I didn't say "darkie"), ruddy tan-brown. And that's just a fact. If Reid had had racism on his mind he'd have referred to Obama in plantation language and called him a "high yeller." Nor did Reid allude to what a thin skin enwraps the Enraptured One. Just let someone voice the slightest disagreement with Obama's policies and he'll bring down the full force of Al Capone's Chicago political machine on the miscreant's head, family, friends and ancestors.• With no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one. No doubt about that — the Anointed One's speech is the paragon of perfect, high English, also known as glibly fluent shyster Harvardese, as opposed to low English and ghetto jive talk. Indeed, why the hell would Obama even consider slipping into such lowbrow lingo even if he could, which is doubtful. You ever heard Obama "ax" someone a question? I haven't. Ever witnessed him rapping "the dozens" in playful badinage with a fellow bro? Never. This cat's ivy-league intellectualized thoroughbred socialist straight up.
• Negro. Uh-oh... There's the big one — an egregiously anachronistic example of high political incorrectness.
But is it really? And is a mind really "a terrible thing to waste," which has been the United Negro College Fund's campaign slogan for decades?
I seriously doubted that such a solidly scientific anthropological label had fallen into disrepute, even though it may have become the victim of idiotic political correctness, as have so many other fine words and phrases.
So I hauled out the big gun, my 10.5-pound Merriam-Webster Third International Dictionary (Unabridged), and looked up "Negro," which you'll note is usually capitalized. If you can't trust M-W's current unabridged, who the hell can you trust? Certainly not a bunch of politically correct turds. Here's the entry, verbatim except for etymology and diacritical marks, which aren't really germane to our investigation:
negro 1. usu cap a: a member of the black race of mankind as opposed by classification according to physical features (as skin color, hair form, or body or skeletal characteristics) but without regard to language or culture to members of the Caucasian, Mongoloid, or other races of mankind; esp: a member of a people belonging to African branch of the black race and marked typically by dark pigmentation and woolly hair and evertd lips and broad flat noses and prognathism b: a person of Negro ancestry; esp: a person whose pigmentation is dark like that of typical African Negroes and who often (as with mulattoes) has other physical characteristics of typical African Negroes.
Woweeee! Did you catch that parenthetical "mulattoes" in the second nuance of the definition? What if Harry had called the potential candidate a "light-skinned mulatto?" The fallout would have been radioactive nuclear.
In addition to the definition, a good dictionary (and M-W is top of the heap) will note if the word is generally considered archaic, slang, vulgar, a pejorative, etc.
Do we find any such caveats associated there with the word "negro?"
Absolutely not.
So should Harry get the boot for bigotry? Nah, of course not. Harry's not a bigot -- he's a maggot, and should be booted for that reason alone.
Which is exactly what Nevada voters will do come November.
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