Should Harry Reid Resign?

I've been having some fun at Harry Reid's expense over his comments about Barack Obama, but I would like to seriously discuss the question of whether he should resign (over this issue-I think he should resign for a million reasons, but that is another topic.)

First of all, are Reid's remarks racist? Not in my view. The term "Negro" is not an epithet. It is a term that was still in use when I was growing up-a polite term to refer to black people. What happened was that this word fell out of favor in the 60s or so as blacks decided they wanted to be called something other than Negroes or colored people, which was also considered polite. We then progressed to black, Afro-American, African-American and people of color, all quite confusing if you ask me.

At any rate, Reid's terminology is out of date to the extreme and might even be considered insensitive especially "Negro dialect". Racist? Not in my view. Therefore, should he resign or should we accept his apology and move on?

First, I don't think Reid should have to resign because he used the term, "Negro dialect" or referred to the President as being light-skinned. Considering the times and the history, it was a monumentally stupid thing to say. But then again, Harry Reid is not very bright in a variety of areas. One element he was insulting was the American electorate.

Dennis Prager, on his radio show, raised the point that we should judge a man by the totality of his life and not by one inappropriate statement. That makes sense to me. I am not aware of anything in Reid's past that would indicate to me he is a racist. So why not let him make his apologies, write letters and make phone calls to every black public figure he can think of and make a further fool out of himself-which he is doing.

The crucial point here, which the Republicans have hit on, is that there is obviously a double standard in what conservatives/Republicans can say or not say vis-a-vis Democrats/liberals. The Trent Lott example is a perfect case in point. Let's do away with the hypocrisy.

I think the proper Republican response would be to cease the calls for Reid's resignation and call for some sort of understanding that rules, codes or whatever you want to call them in regard to racially-tinged language should apply to everyone equally. That should be the lesson of the latest Harry Reid fiasco.