# 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:** 2
**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 10, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/21 "2010-01-10T19:41:50Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I’m not seeing outrage so much at what Reid said, but that he’s being given a pass by the Dems. A pass for what? What should he not be “given a pass” for? What should the Dems be doing? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/22 "2010-01-10T20:17:11Z")
Reid’s comments are no different then Vice President Biden’s. It appears that the Democratic party has officially verified the President is an African American who can speak English. It’s not like he called Obama a white nigger. That would have been embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/23 "2010-01-10T20:35:30Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > A pass for what? What should he not be “given a pass” for? For what he subsequently apologized for. If it was nothing, he wouldn’t have had to apologize. > [@](#): > > What should the Dems be doing? According to some on the right, they should be asking him to step down. Although I don’t agree with that, it’s not so hard to understand. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/24 "2010-01-10T20:59:42Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Reid’s comments are no different then Vice President Biden’s. It appears that the Democratic party has officially verified the President is an African American who can speak English. It’s not like he called Obama a white nigger. That would have been embarrassing. In the article I linked to above, McWhorter contrasts the two. The insulting implication in Biden’s statement was that an African American would not be expected to be articulate. The implication in Reid’s statement is that an African American would be expected to speak with a “negro dialect,” which would be a political detriment. While the term used brings up some ugly associations, this is basically true. There are indeed speech patterns associated with black Americans, and both blacks and whites see them as inferior to standard English. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/25 "2010-01-10T21:03:46Z")
> [@hobscrk777](#): > > Is it the term “Negro” itself? Has that word become unacceptable? Not unacceptable, just archaic. What’s next? Will we start referring to Jackie Chan as Mongoloid? Europeans as Caucasoids? ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/26 "2010-01-10T21:12:12Z")
I’m amused you guys think Obama is light-skinned. Will Smith is light-skinned. Jada Pinket is light-skinned. Left Eye from “T.L.C” is light-skinned. Shemar Moore is light-skinned. Obama’s skin is brown and really isn’t that much lighter than your average African-American. ---
**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 10, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/27 "2010-01-10T21:38:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > For what he subsequently apologized for. If it was nothing, he wouldn’t have had to apologize. It was nothing. People apologize for nothing all the time. Apologies do not confer substance. > [@](#): > > According to some on the right, they should be asking him to step down. Although I don’t agree with that, it’s not so hard to understand. It certainly isn’t. It’s completely empty partisanship and phony offense. Incidentally, how can you simultaneously say that Reid is being “given a pass,” and that you disagree that he should have to step down. If you agree that the Dems should not force him to step down, then how can you complain that they are “giving him a pass?” ---
**Author:** ![Smitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Smitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smitty)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/28 "2010-01-10T23:48:21Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Reid’s comments are no different then Vice President Biden’s. It appears that the Democratic party has officially verified the President is an African American who can speak English. It’s not like he called Obama a white nigger. That would have been embarrassing. I assume you are referring to former Klan recruiter Robert Byrd’s use of that endearing term. ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0FIBJt-c2o0/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/0FIBJt-c2o0?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque Of course, Democrats didn’t mind that either. Yes, Reid should have to live by his own so called “principles” and resign. ---
**Author:** ![Paleface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Paleface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paleface)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/29 "2010-01-11T00:34:24Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > My comment was perfectly pertinent to the discussion. The right’s pretended outrage at this is completely disingenuous and transparently partisan and opportunistic. You don’t get it. The outrage is over the double-standard that the pols on the Right are held to. Hell, everyone “mispeaks” once in a while. Appoligies are only accepted when given by the Left. Now, the Right is going for a little payback, and they are justified in it. Harry Reid is an elitist prick. The comment that sealed the deal for me, was when Harry Reid said, > [@](#): > > In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. But that, too, was evidently acceptable for the Left. ---
**Author:** ![Anduril](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Anduril](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anduril)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/30 "2010-01-11T00:51:33Z")
There was nothing racist in what Harry Reid said nor for that matter Bill Clinton. Feigned Republican outrage is playing to smokescreen Obama’s continuing dip in the polls because of his general incompetence. If it gains further currency, people will again be talking about race - and we all know how great the Obama camp is at race-baiting. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/31 "2010-01-11T01:14:26Z")
CNN headline: GOP Senator, Chair, call for Reid to step down. > **[GOP chair: Reid should step down following race remark - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/10/reid.obama/index.html)** > > The chairman of the Republican Party and a leading GOP senator called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to give up his post Sunday, following the publication of remarks he made about President Obama's race in 2008. Yep. Steele and Cornyn (R-TX). Well, shit, how’s Harry going to control his party when the Republicans keep calling for him to step down? He’s lost whatever control of the Republicans in his party that he had! ---
**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 11, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/32 "2010-01-11T02:01:37Z")
> [@Paleface](#): > > You don’t get it. The outrage is over the double-standard that the pols on the Right are held to. There is no outrage at all. It’s compltely pretended and phony. There is also no double standard. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/33 "2010-01-11T02:02:22Z")
> [@Paleface](#): > > Harry Reid is an elitist prick. The comment that sealed the deal for me, was when Harry Reid said, > > > [@](#): > > > > In the summer because of the heat and high humidity, you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol. > > But that, too, was evidently acceptable for the Left. In what way is it elitist to state that large numbers of sweaty people entering an enclosed building can add an odor? ---
**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 11, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/34 "2010-01-11T02:02:37Z")
> [@Anduril](#): > > There was nothing racist in what Harry Reid said nor for that matter Bill Clinton. Feigned Republican outrage is playing to smokescreen Obama’s continuing dip in the polls because of his general incompetence. If it gains further currency, people will again be talking about race - and we all know how great the Obama camp is at race-baiting. Cite for Obama engaging in race baiting? ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/35 "2010-01-11T02:29:46Z")
> [@Honesty](#): > > Not unacceptable, just archaic. What’s next? Will we start referring to Jackie Chan as Mongoloid? Europeans as Caucasoids? What would have the more appropriate term for him to use? “African-American dialect?” “Black dialect?” “Ebonics?” ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/36 "2010-01-11T02:41:37Z")
Linguists call it [African American Vernacular English](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English). "African American English or “Black English” are reasonable shortenings. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/37 "2010-01-11T03:31:18Z")
The point for me is that Reid has apologized for saying something that’s essentially true: that Americans would not likely vote for a candidate who is too dark, or who speaks non-standard English. He didn’t say that there was anything fundamentally wrong with dark skin or with non-standard English. That he felt compelled to apologize is a sad commentary on the loss of respect for people standing up for what they believe, and the craven pandering to campaign contributors. Reid is apparently unable to say, Yes, that’s what I said and I stand by the point I made. He doesn’t have the courage of his convictions and he doesn’t want to lose support from ANYone who might contribute to his re-election campaign. Politicians today would make our founding fathers cry. ---
**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 11, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/38 "2010-01-11T03:52:15Z")
> [@Punoqllads](#): > > In what way is it elitist to state that large numbers of sweaty people entering an enclosed building can add an odor? Seriously, if we give into that kind of PC whining, we’re letting the tourists win. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/39 "2010-01-11T04:06:06Z")
Reid is not apologizing for saying that Obama’s dialect and skin color made him more electable than other African American politicians. He’s apologizing for his choice of words. He’s been very clear about that. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394/40 "2010-01-11T04:11:58Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Incidentally, how can you simultaneously say that Reid is being “given a pass,” and that you disagree that he should have to step down. If you agree that the Dems should not force him to step down, then how can you complain that they are “giving him a pass?” JFTR, **John Mace** _didn’t_ complain about Reid being given a pass; he simply clarified that as the object of the people who _are_ complaning. Correctly identifying the object does not equate to stating that it has any basis in reality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-harry-reid-be-forced-to-step-down/524394.md?page=3)