Monday
Jan112010
White House Rejects Reid-Lott Comparison Over Racially Tinged Remarks
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs brushed away suggestions that controversial remarks made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could be compared to a suggestion made by former Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) that the U.S. would be better off if now-deceased Senator Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) had been elected on a segregationist platform.
“I don’t understand how one draws the analogy to a former Majority Leader expressing his support for the defeat of Harry Truman in 1948 so that Strom Thurmond would be president running on a states’ rights ticket,” Gibbs said during a press conference Monday. “To draw that analogy strains any intellectual enterprise or any ... reality.”
The Press Secretary seemed to take a swipe at Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who made the comparison on a talk show Sunday.
“I understand what people have to say ... to get themselves on T.V.,” Gibbs remarked. “I suggest they spend about twenty seconds reading a little history”
Reid reportedly told reporters amid the 2008 Presidential campaign that then-Senator Barack Obama would benefit from being “light-skinned” and having “no negro dialect.” The president accepted Reid’s subsequent apology.
“The President didn’t take offense personally, but believes ... that this is an unfortunate choice of words,” Gibbs said.
Lott’s comments were made during a ceremony for Strom Thurmond’s birthday in 2002. The Mississippi Republican said that if Thurmond had won the presidency, the U.S. would not “have had all these problems over all these years.” Lott resigned from his leadership post after the remarks prompted a wave of controversy.
Gibbs declined to speculate on how Reid could have more appropriately phrased his statement.
“I don’t understand how one draws the analogy to a former Majority Leader expressing his support for the defeat of Harry Truman in 1948 so that Strom Thurmond would be president running on a states’ rights ticket,” Gibbs said during a press conference Monday. “To draw that analogy strains any intellectual enterprise or any ... reality.”
The Press Secretary seemed to take a swipe at Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who made the comparison on a talk show Sunday.
“I understand what people have to say ... to get themselves on T.V.,” Gibbs remarked. “I suggest they spend about twenty seconds reading a little history”
Reid reportedly told reporters amid the 2008 Presidential campaign that then-Senator Barack Obama would benefit from being “light-skinned” and having “no negro dialect.” The president accepted Reid’s subsequent apology.
“The President didn’t take offense personally, but believes ... that this is an unfortunate choice of words,” Gibbs said.
Lott’s comments were made during a ceremony for Strom Thurmond’s birthday in 2002. The Mississippi Republican said that if Thurmond had won the presidency, the U.S. would not “have had all these problems over all these years.” Lott resigned from his leadership post after the remarks prompted a wave of controversy.
Gibbs declined to speculate on how Reid could have more appropriately phrased his statement.
tagged 
Gibbs, Racism, White House, negro dialect, racial remarks, reid in Frontpage 1, News/Commentary, White House
Gibbs, Racism, White House, negro dialect, racial remarks, reid in Frontpage 1, News/Commentary, White House
Reader Comments (6)
It's obvious the Republican's will say anything or do anything to defeat health care. To suggest comparing Trent Lott's statement during Strom Thermond's birthday party is in anyway similiar to Harry Reid's is ludicruous. GIVE ME A BREAK-how stupid do the Republican's think the American people are? Besides wasn't the Republican's who threw Lott under the bus?
Harry Reid should step down. Trent Lott should have stepped down. This position should be held by someone with some decency. Harry Reid has no clue what he's doing. He's being driven by an even bigger idiot Nancy Pelosi and her extreme agenda that only San Francisco could support. Robert Gibbs can't even answer the simplest of questions, so his response to this means nothing to me.
Let's get off all this ridiculous talk and get onto the real issues that are hurting our country. That goes for the the new book "Game Change" as well. Don't people deserve some privacy and the right to sometimes say and do things unbecoming? After all, who isn't human? Do we just want to gossip and complain or do we want to get something done!!
America only focuses on what's hot in the media. Tomorrow it will be about how we need to pass a bill that heats up Florida. The only person who can change this country is Ron Paul, but the left and right don't like him so he gets no attention. He's truly an American who cares about us, not his agenda. He believes in term limits and has never voted for a raise in his pay. Until then, get used to this bickering bs that the media and the white house does today.
This is an interesting spin by the spin doctors. The democrats will vehemently attack any, and I mean ANY republican who even unintentionally hints at racism, but they will protect their own party members. Lott's statements were taken to mean he supported Strom Thurmond's racist PAST. Lott could have used better words too, but it was not what he said and was not what he meant.
So, should Democratic leaders be forced to resign when they say anything positive about Robert Byrd? you know ... the KKK card carrying segregationist Dixiecrat who never switched parties? Well gee, that will never happen because the democrats don't hold themselves to the same "standard". They have a double standard. If Strom Thurmond had never switched parties, then what Lott had said would have been just fine and dandy. Robert Byrd and Strom Thurmond were both segregationists - one became a republican, the other remained in the democratic party.
You democrats have really got to at least ATTEMPT to hide your double standards or you will be completely destroyed in 2012.
I reject the Lott, Reid comparison, but I still think Reid should resign as Majority Leader and retire from the Senate. His comments were disturbingly racist.