A Discussion on Harry Reid's 'Negro Problem'

From the Rachel Maddow Program: great discussion

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Senator Harry Reid's ' Negro' Problem

I wanted to let it go.

But, Harry Reid has a 'Negro' Problem.

YES, I know it's from Mark Halperin, but if it wasn't true, Reid wouldn't have APOLOGIZED.

From the new book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin -Game Change - they have the following tidbit about Reid:

On page 37, a remark, said "privately" by Sen. Harry Reid, 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.

I'm sorry, but this is the kind of mess that just angers me. White folks pretending that Barack Obama was the first Black person to graduate from Harvard when W.E.B. DuBois got his Phd from Harvard in 1895.

There were whole swaths of Black folk who were educated BEFORE the Civil Rights Movement.

W-T-F is NEGRO DIALECT?

NEGRO DIALECT?

Do you honestly believe that Black people walk around talking Ebonics? That you aren't talking about a SUBSET of people?

That the overwhelming majority of BLACK people with BLACK parents IN AMERICA were raised speaking the ' King's English', and that we were liable to get hurt if we didn't.

This was an insult by Reid, but guess what, it's not an insult that any other EDUCATED BLACK PERSON hasn't heard in their lifetime.

The whole, they know you went to college and graduate/professional school, but will utter the words - to your face-

' you speak so well.'

You grit your teeth and maybe mumble something, but what you want to say is..

I have 2 degrees[if not more], you idiot. what do you think I had to do in order to get them? That there's a specific ' Black degree', where they allow you to do whatever to get a degree?

Barack Obama: light-skinned?

Does he even pass the paperbag test?

I will remind you that Reid is also SUSPECT because of all the maneuvering and interference he did in the ILLINOIS SENATE SEAT, where it was reported how he SPECIFICALLY went after ALL THE BLACK CANDIDATES UNDER CONSIDERATION.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.

Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sources say the Senate majority leader pushed against Jackson and Davis — both democratic congressmen from Illinois — and against Jones — the Illinois Senate president who is the political godfather of President-elect Barack Obama — because he did not believe the three men were electable. He feared losing the seat to a Republican in a future election.

This is from me in January of 2009:

First of all, this isn’t about Davis or Jones, who would have been nothing but caretakers anyway. Actually, scratch Davis. Nobody thinking who actually follows Danny Davis, thought that he was SINCERELY considering leaving his SAFE Congressional seat, and the ability to pad that federal pension for another easy decade for something that would be OVER in 2010.

Jones, who had retired from the Illinois Senate, would have been a caretaker. Period. He’s in his 70’s, and this would have been the capper for a long public service career.

No. This was all about Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Deciding from ‘ on high’, that Jesse Jackson, Jr. couldn’t win.

Well, excuse me, if I think that’s up to Jesse Jackson, Jr. to try and if he doesn’t win in a Democratic Primary in 2010, so be it. But, if he won the Democratic Primary, it would be up to the ILLINOIS Democratic Party to put out and help him get over the hump in 2010.

I believed it when it was first reported, but others gave him the ' benefit of the doubt'. No longer.

It is what it is.

And remember Reid's George Wallace imitation when it came to Roland Burris.

He can take his apology and shove it where the sun don't shine.

Harry Reid Presents the Senate Healthcare Bill

Harry Reid explains the Senate bill.



From TPM

Reid: 'We're Proud Of These Figures'
Rachel Slajda | November 18, 2009, 6:50PM

After meeting with the Democratic caucus to unveil the details of his merged Senate health care reform bill, Senate Majority Harry Reid held a press conference to announce the bill.

The bill "saves lives, saves money and protects Medicare, makes Medicare stronger," Reid said, flanked by several Democratic senators, including Chris Dodd, Debbie Stabenow, Al Franken and Chuck Schumer.

"Ninety-eight percent of the American people, those that have Medicare will be included in that number, will have health insurance," he said,

Earlier today, Reid's office briefed reporters on the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the bill, which will require $849 billion over 10 years in new spending and will reduce the deficit by $127 billion. The CBO had a slightly different percentage of Americans who will be insured, saying the number would come in at 94 percent.

"We're proud of these figures," Reid said.

Now, we have 3 pivotal votes before it actually gets out of the Senate. Keep the eyes on Lincoln, Landrieu, and Nelson. See if they truly are big and bad enough to stand up on the floor and vote against bringing this to the floor for a vote. And, forced to do it, they should. Don't let them hide in the shadows.

Read more »

Rachel Maddow explains what Harry Reid did in the Senate on healthcare

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The Senate Democrats Refusing to go along with the closing of Guantanamo

I give the floor to Booman of Booman Tribune:

Enough of Harry Reid
by BooMan
Wed May 20th, 2009 at 12:46:49 AM EST

On the whole, I've been a defender of Majority Leader Harry Reid. I believe he is often unjustly criticized for decisions that are made not by him, but by a few centrist members of the Democratic Caucus. A Majority Leader can suggest a direction for the caucus but he can't make senators go where they are unwilling to go. And, once it is clear that the caucus will not support something, it is up to Reid to put the best face on it to the base of the party. This often results in Harry Reid insulting our intelligence by telling us that dogshit smells and tastes just great. Consequently, Reid winds up taking a lot of heat that would be more equitably directed at unnamed senators who are the real obstacles to progressive change. I still believe this, but I can't defend him anymore. He's a yellow-bellied coward who I am ashamed to associate with as a co-member of the Democratic Party.
Oh, I know that this time is no different. If it weren't for cowards within his caucus refusing to provide funding for the closing of Guantanamo Bay, Reid wouldn't have had to give us the dogshit spiel. But he went further than usual. He didn't just whip out his cock, piss on our legs, and tell us that it's raining. He cut tail and ran. In the Army, they shoot people for that. It's called fucking 'desertion' and it puts your comrades at needless risk.

The President ran a campaign in which he promised repeatedly to close Guantanamo Bay and to treat the people there within traditional American practices of jurisprudence. He got no argument on that score from Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich, or anyone else. But now that the Republicans are trying to frighten people about our ability to keep potentially violent criminals behind bars in this country of a bazillion prisons, Harry Reid is playing a different tune. Now he's a coward.

Let me tell you something. This country doesn't need Harry Reid in Congress. We'll do just fine without him. We need him to show courage and help the president do what he promised to do. If he loses his seat as a result, so fucking what? That's what they call a Profile in Courage. There will be no new chapters dedicated to Harry Reid in the next edition of that book. He's a complete turncoat and an absolutely gutless fool.

And let me tell you why this upsets me so much. For my entire life the Republicans have made a political living by arguing that the Democrats don't have what it takes to protect American interests and American security. I always thought they were full of shit. But the Democrats in the Senate are proving the Republicans right, and me wrong. Any organization that is afraid to house Gitmo prisoners in super-maximum security prisons within the United States (for real or political reasons) is too yellow-bellied to protect the United States. If this is all the guts the Democrats have, they should be voted out of power and the Republicans should be re-entrusted with our national security. At least with them, you know that they will fight.

The idea that a proud and confident party would shrink from backing their own president on a matter of such profound national consequence because of the illogical and ridiculous fearmongering arguments being advanced by the Republicans is so far beneath my contempt that I cannot stomach it.

Harry Reid is dead to me.

I feel ya, Booman.