I was just watching DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton on Fox explaining why Sen. Reid should stay right where he is notwithstanding longtime civil rights advocate John Cornyn saying he should go.
Norton explained that there’s a rather elemental difference between describing American racial attitudes in archaic and embarrassing language and endorsing racism. But she also made the subsidiary point. People are going to interpret Reid’s comments in the context of a strong record on civil rights and anti-discrimination — just as they interpreted Lott’s comments in terms of a long record of support for neo-segregationist politics and white supremacist groups in his home state.
