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Sen. Harry Reid responds to media questions about his comment about President Obama following a press conference at the Harry Allen Generating Plant near Apex on Monday, Jan. 11, 2010.
Published Monday, Jan. 11, 2010 | 11:34 a.m.
Updated Monday, Jan. 11, 2010 | 4:38 p.m.
Sun Coverage
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was at a power plant on the edge of the Las Vegas Valley this morning to talk about a new transmission line and the jobs it should create, but reporters wanted only to ask about the racial comments controversy that has been swirling around the Nevada Democrat since last week.
CNN and NBC were among the national media at the NV Energy press conference at the Harry Allen Generating Plant near the Great Basin Highway exit off Interstate 15 north of the valley.
Reid stuck to what he has been saying since his comments about President Barack Obama being more electable because of his lighter skin color and lack of a "Negro dialect" exploded public. Reid said his words were poorly chosen and he will not resign because "there is much work to do."
He did not answer questions about the validity of his comments and questions about whether he believed a majority of whites would be less inclined to vote for a darker-skinned black candidate with a dialect. Once when he was asked a question to that effect, his answer was off-subject, and when he was asked again, the question and answer session was ended.
Earlier at the event he had emphasized that he was "very proud of being one of the first to suggest that Barack Obama run for president. I've enjoyed working with him and we have a lot of work left to do."
He had also thanked Nevada's black leaders and national leaders for their support in the wake of the controversy.
Reid, who was already running behind to challengers in recent polls prior to the controversy, appeared collected and showed no obvious signs of stress from the criticism of this remarks and GOP calls for his resignation.
He said he had spent the weekend in his hometown of Searchlight, southwest of Las Vegas, and had spent a lot of time walking in the desert there.
Leave Harry alone. I don't like him, but what he said is the truth. Obama doesn't threaten the White people because of his skin color and speech. Harry told it like it is. Most, I said most White people are confortable with Obama because of this fact.
I found Harry's racist remarks highly offensive and very disturbing. Harry should resign his seat in the senate immediately so we can begin the healing process and hopefully, with time, put this ugly incident behind us.
In the meantime our governor will appoint a suitable replacement to represent all the people of Nevada's interests till the end of the term.
The repubs are simply using this as another wedge.
Discrediting Harry Reid and demanding he resign is just another tactic to keep health-care reform stalled.
Can't you just hear some of the snickering going on in the halls of Washington from the right?
Here's a little interesting - well-documented - reading about Reid if you're a newbie here: Did Harry Reid really kick the mob out of Las Vegas in the 1970s, as he claims? Or was he in the Mafia's pocket, as Joe Agosto claimed?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1...
Dirty, crooked, and racist.....boy, we have the poorest senator ever! What an embarrassment to the State of Nevada. Noteworthy, is how the Democrat Party defends this form of racism and highly critical when it's a Republican. I smell this coming back on them and deservingly so. Democrats are hypocrites!
of course being a sexual predator like John Ensign is okay with hypocrites in the republican party.
Folks, TeaParty Express comming to town on Saturday, March 27, 2010 5 PM. More to come! If your tired of being ignored by our dismal senator you may want to be here for this event. TeaPartyExpress.org Get involved!
YEEEEEEAAAAAAH!
Are we meeting at Wal-mart?
Ummm yeah, you go there, okay. What a tard!
Harry Reid is truly an embarrassment to the hard working people of Nevada, it blows my mind that he could have ever been elected is a state where government interference is barley tolerated and freedom for all is so highly held. What the hell were the people that voted for this guy thinking?
At least his true colors are now known and I'm sure he'll be back hanging out at the Searchlight cafe after the next election.
desetsun, do not kid me!
Will Sarah be there???
Glenn????
OMG!!!
I'm tweeting and texting and emailing like MAD!
THANKS for that "tard" comment, you are so charming!!!
So Harry did a lot of walking in the desert. he should find a cliff and.....see how he thoroughly answered all their questions. Pathetic piece of crap.
Joe Biden said pretty much said the same thing in 2007 during the campaign. If President Obama accepted his apology ,that's it as far as I'm concerned. I'm amazed by the amount of fake outrage and indignation over this, mainly by the same people who themselves have called President Obama every name in the book and have acted in such a disgraceful manner towards the leader of our country.
I don't think his comment that bad and certainly not hateful but this is what happens when you call everyone around you racist and then pat yourself on the back for your own openness. Reid certainly meant what he said but I but it sounded better in his head.
In reality Reid was being a politician. What ever happened to a world where people were judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. Politicians create divides by making people believe that their color, religion, or gender is what defines them. Both parties look for electability and try to figure out what Americans will vote for based on shallow characteristics. That is also why Hillary Clinton was on the ballot for the democratic candidate. It wasn't for her position, it was because she is a woman. McCain picked Sarah Palin because he wanted to counter the Hillary effect with a GOP woman. This is a numbers game for political parties and the best candidate does not always win. I didn't like what Obama had to offer but I also didn't like what McCain had to offer. I hate it when politicians pander to race, religion, color, or gender. Pander to everyone as Americans and stop trying to divide the country by trivial qualities. My uncle told me to be proud to be a Mexican but I am proud to be an American.
Reid is his own worst enemy and so are all politicians when they assume they have achieved perfection. He calls people racist without a reason so he deserves what he gets. His comment is so minor compared to the crooked closed door dealings that took place a few weeks ago to push the health care bill through the senate. Judge Reid by his actions and the way he deals with things.
When will celebrities, sports newscasters, radio DJ's, and Politicians ever learn to keep their mouths shut about ANYTHING regarding race, ethnicity, or gender. I mean, all you have to do is say "no comment" whenever anyone asks you about those subjects!
Tea Baggers express. LOL. Angry white trash that pay little taxes are upset!
NO ONE CARES!
Tea baggers are unAmerican,Uneducated, and ignorant.
100% repuplican. Where was the outrage at Bush?
And just what are you trying to prove by using the term "teabagger"? There is an obvious distateful association with that word with an activity involving parts of the male anatomy.
The fact that it is primarialy Democrats that use that term is ironic in this case.
Again, it is NOT the words that Reid used that matters, but rather the concept he expressed. Maybe no one would have been upset if he had said "She doesn't wear comfortable shoes or speak with an Oxford accent" in reference to Hillary, but it would be exactly the same concept and just as offensive.
We all know tea baggers are republicans pretending to care about spending. After Bush, they look stupid. Look at the links on the bagger's website. All are christian agenda sponsors.
The only parties that Nick attends are the ANP and the KKK... He looks better with a sheet over his head...
Keep walking, Harry. Maybe God will burn a "bush" for you!
Nick, please join Harry on his walk.
Could/would someone, anyone, please provide a scintilla of emperical evidence that Harry Reid ever stepped into a boxing ring with gloves on.
Obama and Reid are friends; so, in many respects, the comments on this issues constitutes and invasion on the privacy of strategy sessions of that friendship
Reid stuck to what he has been saying since his comments about President Barack Obama being more electable because of his lighter skin color and lack of a "Negro dialect"
--------------------------
Plantation Master Harry Reid has called upon LIGHT-SKINNED NEGRO President Obama to say my Master Reid is "A good Man who has always been on the right side" and we have "closed the book".
Nick,
You don't seem to stray form the liberal playbook.
Call people names, include no substance and than pretend that Bush is still president. You may not have been paying attention but Pres Obama said, while he was running for president, that he was the man that could fix America's problems and then stated that we have to look forward. In addition, he has made so many promises that he has not kept. But you choose to focus on the Bush. This may surprise you, but Obama is President now and he has quadrupled the deficit in one year and has push several bad bills through congress. Bush made mistakes and he did get heat for it.
It is quite obvious that you just started paying attention to politics.
Check out today's Drudge Report, which idicates that Dingy Harry has morphed into Botox Harry. I wonder if Pelosi received a referral fee?
The way Harry's ducking and weaving, he must be harking back to his boxing days he always likes to brag about
. Angry white trash that pay little taxes are upset
__________
Thanks for disproving that notion that liberals are racist.
Angry white trash that pay little taxes are upset
__________
Thanks for disproving that notion that liberals are racist.
______
Oops, should be "aren't racist".
I'm more interested in the ongoing Senator John Ensign investigation.
Harry Reid has never voted "racist." That's what matters.
Reid needs to resign immediately!
Nothing he can say can retract his Freudian slip!
He has absolutely no empathy for people and evidently his racial hatred is showing to all those now.
Perhaps it is his aging mind, and he can't control his words anymore, but regardless, this was uncalled for and as such, he needs to resign now!!!
If Obama and Dirty Harry can demand that Trent Lott resign for his comments on Strom Thurmond, which was no where as severe as this racial insult,then he is further guilty and must leave the Senate as we can not have anyone with this lack of integrity represent us any longer!
However, he is a very stupid and arrogant arse, we may just have to force him out in November and I am eager to vote against two Reids!
Exactly what I expect from the republicans... they would rather pull the race card than debate the issues facing our nation.
How pathetic.
Rev. Harry "Nagger" Reid is merely exercising his right of free speech while offering transparency into what he thinks with an emphasis on cultural pigmentation and dialect much like a saltine version of Rev. Jesse Jackson.
: p
Reid is A-OK.
So what if he would have had a problem with Obama if he was darker or spoke with negro dialect. We can overlook that.
He is A-OK because he came out released a letter in support of Nevada's Constitutional Ban on Gay Marriage and voted for DOMA and has not push for DOMA overturn or for Obama to rescind Don't Ask Don't Tell. Both the light skin Obama and Reid are against gay marriage anyway and believe that each state should determine its laws on the matter.
He is a swell guy that Reid dude.
I wonder if Reid had time to call the former democratic leader Robert Byrd, You know the former recruiter and exalted cyclops for the klan Byrd. He made Strom thurmond look like a boy scout.This Reid thing is nothing more than in your face hypocrisy!
This is all A BUNCH OF BS ! who cares what color anyone is? what's more important is what the man's record is. You people better start getting concerned with all of the legislation thats being passed currently which is much much worse than some stupid comment that Idiot Reid made a hundred years ago. Wise up people this is just what Reid and Obama want the public's focus on, to take the focus off the real crisis which is that of a severe depression this country faces at the moment, and the expansion and proliferation of American (taxpayer) sponsored violence in the Middle East to protect the oil fields NOT build democracies which is the BS excuse of our presence there. WAKE UP PEOPLE !!!!!
Too bad you couldn't be the one reporter to ask about the jobs that the plant has brough to Nevada and will continue to bring. That is your job right?