Earlier, I wrote that the Reid incident "allows the GOP to take offense at the suggestion that racism is still a factor in American life while ostensibly expressing disapproval of anti-black racism."
Indeed, moments ago, former RNC Chair candidate Saul Anuzis let slip what really infuriates him about Reid's statement, tweeting: Ried [sic] won't answer the question if "he owes the voter [sic] an apology" for implying they are racist?
So let's be clear on why people like John Cornyn think that Trent Lott's pining for the days of segregation are more "innocuous" than Reid's comments. It's that the GOP sees Reid's comments as being racist towards white people. The idea that they're outraged by anti-black racism is pretense.
As long as we're still on the "reverse-racism" front, Dave Weigel reports that the GOP is still pushing for an investigation of the dismissal of the New Black Panther case -- which was filed by former Voting Rights Section head Christopher Coates, man disgraced Bush-era Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Bradley Schlozman called "a true member of the team."
-- A. Serwer
