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Beyond The Pale Harry Reid's Exclusive Country Club

By  ROBERT A. GEORGE

Updated 7:37 PM PDT, Mon, Jan 5, 2009

Related Topics: Harry Reid | U.S. Senate

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Soem taxpayers smell so bad that Rep. Harry Reid has to breathe through his mouth.
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If Reid studied his history a bit more closely, he might realize that -- for all of its racial baggage -- Illinois is the only state in the Union that has twice elected African-Americans to the US Senate over the last, oh, hundred years or so.

 

Soon-to-be Pres. Barack Obama may actually long for the days of Bill Clinton's divided government.  So far, he hasn't exactly gotten a great boost from his supposed "friends" in the Democratic Party. 

Two Democratic governors -- including one Obama had nominated to be Commerce Secretary -- find themselves under federal investigation. And, well, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is almost making former majority leader Trent Lott --  a Mississippi Republican -- look like a paragon of racial progressiveness.

Yes, U.S. Rep's Bobby Rush's explicit use of the race card last week following Rod Blagojevich's appointment of Roland Burris to replace Obama in the Senate was pretty bad -- but hardly unexpected.  After all, Rush is a former leader in the Black Panther Party.  

But Harry Reid's pre-indictment counseling of Blagojevich not to appoint either Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Rep. Danny Davis or state senator Emil Jones -- all African-Americans -- must be horrendous if you're a Democrat.  It actually gives credence to Rush (and Burris') charge that the U.S. Senate is a racist institution. Coming on the heels of Reid warning Burris that the Senate would block him from being seated -- and essentially treat him as a second-class citizen until Blagojevich was either removed from office or his power to appoint was curtailed --  made the Democrats look like they're reverting to their pre-'60s role as the party of segregation.

Now, Reid may have been reading the political tea leaves correctly: He truly believes that none of those men can win an election statewide. However, if Reid studied his history a bit more closely, he might realize that -- for all of its racial baggage -- Illinois is the only state in the Union that has twice elected African-Americans to the US Senate over the last, oh, hundred years or so.  So, who's to say that not one of those three (Jackson Jr., Davis or Jones) couldn't win the office fair and square? 

Geez, if Carol Mosely Braun could win a statewide election and get to the Senate, anyone can.


Robert A. George is a New York Post editorial writer.  A one-time aide to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, he also blogs at Ragged Thots and occasionally dabbles in stand-up comedy.

 

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Comments (6)

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  • Liberalsridiots Tuesday, Jan 6 at 11:20 AM FLAG COMMENT Liberal policies are much more racist than anything Republicans have come up with. I mean c'mon -- doesn't "affirmative action" simply say that a minority can't get a job or get into college on their own skill, knowledge, and volition? That's just one example.... Every so often, you get someone like Reid here, who makes that all abundantly clear. And minorities' continued support of the Democratic party so ironic....
  • Anonymous Tuesday, Jan 6 at 6:11 AM FLAG COMMENT Carol Mosely Braun's election to the Senate was less about race than about gender. Had Alan Dixon voted in favor of the Equal Rights Amendment, Braun would still be sitting in the Cook County Clerks office. One more thing; when President Obama first ran for public office, the district in which he ran had recently been changed to provide for a more favorable black voter turn-out. He faced candidates as racially biased as any ... MORE >
  • One Nut Monday, Jan 5 at 8:33 PM FLAG COMMENT Harry Reid is an embarrassment to the Democrats as well as America. He's useless and looks like a sissy.
  • the doctor Monday, Jan 5 at 6:38 PM FLAG COMMENT for the demoratic party to survive in 4 years they better pay attention to fixing up the messes they helped escalate the last two years. playing games wont work anymore, the press is paying attention and reporting on them( probably because they are embarrassed at how biased they were in support of the demorats prior to the election). Pelosi and Reid are incompetent gas bags that think they can tell the former junior senator ho ... MORE >
  • haydesigner Monday, Jan 5 at 6:27 PM FLAG COMMENT Didn't Reid say that the Senate would move to block ANYONE appointed by Blagojevich? I do not recall Reid specifically singling out black choices, and for the author to blatantly say so is disingenuous... at best.

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