The Fix - Harry Reid apologizes for "light skinned" remark about Obama

The Fix - Harry Reid apologizes for "light skinned" remark about Obama: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) apologized today for referring to President Barack Obama as 'light skinned' and 'with no Negro dialect' in private conversations during the 2008 presidential campaign.

'I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,' said Reid in a statement. 'I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments.'

President Obama said in a statement that he and Reid had spoken about the matter on Saturday afternoon. 'I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years, I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice and I know what's in his heart,' said Obama. 'As far as I am concerned, the book is closed.'

The Senate Majority Leader was officially neutral in the primary fight between Obama and then Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.). Reid's remarks about Obama were revealed in 'Game Change', a book detailing the 2008 race penned by Time's Mark Halperin and New York magazine's John Heilemann."

Related:

(Republican) TRENT LOTT's Resignation from Senate leadership

Political controversy ensued following remarks Lott made on December 5, 2002 at the 100th birthday party of Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Thurmond ran for President of the United States in 1948 on the Dixiecrat (or States' Rights) ticket. Lott said: "When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years, either."^[13]

Thurmond had based his presidential campaign largely on an explicit racial segregation platform. Lott had attracted controversy before in issues relating to civil rights. As a Congressman, he voted against renewal of the Voting Rights Act, voted against the continuation of the Civil Rights Act and opposed making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a federal holiday.^[14] The Washington Post reported that Lott had made similar comments about Thurmond's candidacy in a 1980 rally.^[15] Lott gave an interview with Black Entertainment Television explaining himself and repudiating Thurmond's former views.^[16]

Lott resigned as Senate Republican Leader on December 20, 2002. Bill Frist of Tennessee was later elected to the leadership position. In the book Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig argues that Lott's resignation would not have occurred had it not been for the effect of Internet blogs. He says that though the story "disappear[ed] from the mainstream press within forty-eight hours", "bloggers kept researching the story" until, "[f]inally, the story broke back into the mainstream press."^[17]

^{Will reid be held to the same standards that Lott was??~~~ The Munz}