Harry Reid, racist

See how easy it is to throw out invectives?  Liberals do it all the time.  If you are a conservative you are apparently fair game.  But liberals are quite often usually more guilty of racism than conservatives. The problem is that there are different kinds of racism, and when it's politically correct, the media doesn't take the offender to task.  Politically correct, meaning liberal.  That doesn't mean it doesn't exist on a significant scale. In Harry Reid's case though, where there's smoke, there's fire. 

The Weekly Standard takes note of Reid's comments;

While campaigning in Nevada Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told an audience of mostly Hispanic voters: "I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, okay. Do I need to say more?"

(Emphasis added)

Yes, Harry you do. Start with "I'm sorry for classifying all Hispanics as a homogeneous group with a single set of priorities and expectations. No group is that homogeneous based merely on ethnicity and assuming that is an act of racism. "  Need I say more? Yes actually.

Race baiting has always been a part of the Democratic play book, much like the perpetuation of class warfare. It serves Democrats to villainize some other group in order to gain the acceptance of another specific group. But stereotyping Hispanics as either Democrats or else stupid is as racist as it is self serving. Some Hispanics are pro-business or pro-rule-of-law or pro-liberty or pro-strong-national-defense or pro-lower-taxes or pro-Proposition-8-in-California. Actually, plenty of them are for one or more of those items. painting them all as in alignment with the Democratic agenda is to deny them their individual thought. If you are Hispanic you must think this way. That's not only racist, it's autocratic.

Interestingly this offers a glimpse into Reid's campaign strategy. It is a classic divide and conquer ploy. Reid can no longer say one thing at home and vote another way in Washington.  The veil of saying one thing and doing another has been lifted by the new media.  So Reid has to approach things a little differently.  By drumming up enthusiasm among left leaning Hispanics, Reid hopes to bolster his voter turnout. On his other flank, he's going to paint Sharon Angle as an extremist and try to depress her turnout as much as possible. Maybe some of the people who would have voted for but dislike Reid will at least sit out of the election.  That's probably the best shot he has at overcoming his overall unpopularity with his state's voters - get the right ones for him to turn out in greater numbers than those who oppose him.  It's a tight race and every bit of the margin looks like it might come into play.  Reid I'm sure is not above playing dirty to win this thing, which means Sharon Angle will need all sorts of support to overcome Reid's ploys, including telling Hispanics that they have to vote for him if they really are Hispanic - to not do so is counter to their ethnicity. That's racism in the guise of insensitivity. Or stupid.  Take your pick.