# Will Harry Reid be forced to step down? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 10, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394 "2010-01-10T15:39:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/221 "2010-01-14T20:08:44Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I don’t know. Okay, so how can you say, “It’s not your call” to someone? ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/222 "2010-01-14T20:08:44Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > There isn’t? We heard for weeks about how McCain calling Obama “That one” was racist You did? From who? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/223 "2010-01-14T20:20:54Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Okay, so how can you say, “It’s not your call” to someone? Because it’s no single person’s call. Many people believe that the use of the phrase “Negro dialect” is quite racist. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/224 "2010-01-14T20:29:09Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I don’t know. How does one become “an authority” on racism? Does the fact that he didn’t have the honorific of Reverand in front of his name mean that he can’t be an authority? I don’t recall saying anybody WAS an authority. I’m asking what makes Cochran’s take credible. So far the answer is nothing. It was a rhetorical tactic, and my impression at the time was that not a lot of people took it seriously. There are some accents that sound distinctively black. Not 100 percent of black people have them by any stretch and there are probably some white people who have them, but it I think the point stands. And it’s not racist regardless, even if it’s inaccurate. > [@Mosier](#): > > You did? From who? People did say that, including some people here. It was really stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/225 "2010-01-14T20:31:27Z")
Who said it? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/226 "2010-01-14T20:37:50Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Because it’s no single person’s call. Many people believe that the use of the phrase “Negro dialect” is quite racist. Is racism a matter of popular opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/227 "2010-01-14T21:01:27Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Who said it? [In the thread about that debate,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=486661) (page 5) a few posters compared it to “you people,” but I’ll admit they may have been talking about how the comment was going to be interpreted. I don’t think the search engine is going to help me find anything else about “that one.” ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/228 "2010-01-14T21:18:12Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Is racism a matter of popular opinion? Of course it is. How could it not be? It varies from time to time and from place to place. How is that anything but popular opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/229 "2010-01-14T21:19:46Z")
Hafta agree with **Nars** at least on that point. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/230 "2010-01-14T22:39:28Z")
Even if you squint, how did Harry Reid express a racist sentiment? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/231 "2010-01-14T22:43:21Z")
Btw, taken from blogs: ["McCain calling Senator Obama “that one” smacks, smells, stinks, reeks of racism in every regard. "](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/8/75722/8690/709/623731) ["The comment just rings of a racist disrespect. He effectively called Obama “that boy.”](http://www.gopolitico.com/2008/10/town-hall-debate-that-one-is-new-racist.html) I’m not attributing this to large numbers of people, but some did see racism in it, and it was absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/232 "2010-01-14T23:04:14Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Even if you squint, how did Harry Reid express a racist sentiment? IMHO (and that’s all it is and all it’s worth), he used a racist phrase to describe a non-racist sentiment. Aside from this discussion, when was the last time that you used Negro as an adjective? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/233 "2010-01-14T23:14:34Z")
I don’t think I ever have, but it’s not racist, just outdated. I’m old enough to remember that being considered the polite word. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/234 "2010-01-14T23:17:14Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > IMHO (and that’s all it is and all it’s worth), he used a racist phrase to describe a non-racist sentiment. Aside from this discussion, when was the last time that you used Negro as an adjective? [Snotty, pedantic sniff] Its a noun, actually. [/s,ps] ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/235 "2010-01-14T23:21:24Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Btw, taken from blogs: ["McCain calling Senator Obama “that one” smacks, smells, stinks, reeks of racism in every regard. "](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/8/75722/8690/709/623731) ["The comment just rings of a racist disrespect. He effectively called Obama “that boy.”](http://www.gopolitico.com/2008/10/town-hall-debate-that-one-is-new-racist.html) I’m not attributing this to large numbers of people, but some did see racism in it, and it was absurd. I remeber this now. At first I thought you guys were talking about that “The One” commercial that hinted that Obama was the Antichrist, but I didn’t remember any accusations of racism. I had completely forgotten about “that one” in the debates, but I still don’t think very many people seriously thought it was racist, just kind of belittling. It certainly wasn’t any kind of major scandal. I think Obama supporters were more amused than offended. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/236 "2010-01-15T00:29:53Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > [Snotty, pedantic sniff] Its a noun, actually. [/s,ps] And a pretty standard one too, up until the early seventies. [Black Power](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Power) only really started to hit the mainstream consciousness after the [1968 Olympics](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Olympics_Black_Power_salute). Eventually we all got around to calling folks ‘blacks’ or ‘African Americans’ instead of negros. A few years later, we stopped using the word ‘groovy’ quite so much, but that still pops up in ordinary conversation once in a while too. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/237 "2010-01-15T00:40:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > [Snotty, pedantic sniff] Its a noun, actually. [/s,ps] I assumed that the Negro in “Negro dialect” modified dialect and was therefore an adjective. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/238 "2010-01-15T01:13:42Z")
OK, make that “snooty, pedantic, and stupid.” ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/239 "2010-01-15T05:12:09Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > I remeber this now. At first I thought you guys were talking about that “The One” commercial that hinted that Obama was the Antichrist, but I didn’t remember any accusations of racism. I had completely forgotten about “that one” in the debates, but I still don’t think very many people seriously thought it was racist, just kind of belittling. It certainly wasn’t any kind of major scandal. I think Obama supporters were more amused than offended. This. It seemed as if McCain so despised Obama that he couldn’t bring himself to say the man’s name, is how it came across to me; that’s what was so offensive about it, without any overtone of racism. I’ve still got a sweatshirt that proudly proclaims: _I’m voting for “That One.”_ ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2010, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/240 "2010-01-15T08:36:49Z")
Or it could have been a “senior moment” and he simply forgot Obama’s name for a second. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394.md?page=13)