Pre-internet. But more importantly: Pre-facebook. Pre-twitter.
Can you find any record of any politician–white or black–who has mentioned “nigger” and been forced to apologize for it? Post-internet, of course.
So can you find an example?
I actually know one guy who I respect who, while he didn’t say “N-word,” refused to actually say the word: SF Debris. He argued that, while he knows about the use-mention distinction, he knows that stuff he says is constantly misquoted out of context and used against him. So he chose not to say the word–though he did leave in the clip where Avery Brooks says it in the DS9 episode he was reviewing. (He then defuses it with humorous clips.)
He even mentioned the Louis CK quote, “awarding” anyone who brought that up in the comments with the Annoying Character of the week label.
WSJ quoted the entire sentence.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-mentions-racial-slur-in-describing-fight-against-racism-1435016996