How can you not know not to say things like this?
You have got to be kidding. No? Well then.
The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama’s race during the 2008 presidential bid.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described then-Sen. Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect.” Obama is the nation’s first African-American president.
“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments,” Reid said in a statement.
And Reid’s got company:
The day after Iowa, [Bill Clinton] phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.
Are Reid and Clinton racists? I doubt it. Even if they are, these statements hardly prove it.
Are Reid and Clinton stupid? Surely not. Whatever else we might say about them, we can’t honestly call them that.
How about inexperienced? Career politicians, used to parsing every syllable, every utterance, every gesture?
Uninformed? Ignorant of U.S. history; racial politics; the politically correct hypersensitivity that their own political allies cultivate like prize-winning roses?
That’s not even possible.
So what the hell? How can they not know not to say things like this? Everybody knows not to say things like that. Most of us — many of us, at least — would squirm uncomfortably even to have something like that said in a private conversation.
The arrogance of success and power. That’s all I can think of. Success, power, and the lackadaisical comfort of someone who works well behind the front lines. They’re not racist, stupid, or inexperienced: they’ve just never had incentive to learn caution when it comes to race.
(The TrogloPundit)