Senator Harry Reid admits he was wong.
At least, that’s what he says. Now. Well, kinda’.
A few days after speaking to the Asian-American Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas (which I don’t understand why such an organization should exist), the senior United States Senator from Nevada apologized for two jokes during a luncheon speech that he now says was “in poor taste.”
So, what did Sen. Reid say to the group that was so offensive to them? Here — you decide:
OFFENSIVE REMARK #1 — “The Asian population is so productive. I don’t think you’re smarter than anybody else, but you’ve convinced a lot of us you are.”
OFFENSIVE REMARK #2 — “One problem I’ve had today is keeping my Wongs straight.”
That’s it.
Pretty scandalous huh?
In the first “joke,” Sen. Reid basically calls out people of Asian descent for being smarter than the rest of us. How indecent! How insulting! Well, of course, all those smart Asian businesspeople sitting there listening to such a remark should be offended! Never mind statistics reveal precisely that when it comes to metrics like SAT scores, admissions to elite colleges, or the preponderance of this particular ethnic group in advanced research.
Yet, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the audience laughed. No one at the luncheon at the time complained, or even said a word. No one voiced a complaint afterward, either. More on that in just a moment.
In the second “joke,” Sen. Reid made a lighthearted wordplay on the name of one of the other speakers, implying he meant to say “wrong” in the place of “Wong,” which is a common Asian name.
Again, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the audience — which was almost entirely made up of people of Asian descent — laughed. No harm was done. The 90-minute gathering would pretty much have been forgotten had it not been for the baffling media fallout afterward.
Unfortunately, some conservative political group stalking Sen. Reid (admittedly, both sides now hire what amounts to video assassins, recording everything said by public officials in an attempt to catch the target in a gaff) recorded the remark. They saw an opportunity. The leeches posted the video, which then captured the attention of even more media. Oddly enough, even though a full day had elapsed after the remarks at the luncheon, no one within the Asian Chamber of Commerce had voiced a complaint. But given racial sensitivities what they are, and political correctness run amuck, Sen. Reid caved in to pressure a short time later and issued a public apology.
Sen. Milquetoast strikes again.
My disdain for Sen. Reid is a matter of public record. I’ve already covered this in some detail. So, this isn’t about defending a Democrat. Read this essay as to why I believe he’s THE WORST SENATE MAJORITY LEADER IN HISTORY.
What’s offensive here aren’t Sen. Reid’s casual remarks, which were meant to be mildly amusing (and apparently were, according to witnesses). What’s really repugnant is the rampant fear and public skittishness of just about everyone in society now — especially public figures — who can’t make a statement or tell a joke that has any racial component without fear of offending someone. That someone might not even be in the audience. Apparently, anyone can now take offense, point to the transgressor, and say, “what he said offends me!”
Get a life, people.
So, Sen. Reid’s freewheeling verbal remarks at a lunch gathering got him into trouble. He joins just about every other public official who at some point on a campaign or while in public has said something that probably upset someone. Welcome to a very large club.
The byproduct of this pervasive cloud of political correctness is that many elected officials have become terrified of saying anything nowadays that’s not been pre-scripted and cleared for public consumption by a roomful of filters wearing neckties. So now, we’re carpet-bombed with stale talking points and safe words and non-threatening phrases that have conveniently been pre-packaged and won’t dare offend anyone. All personality and spontaneity get stripped bare from the political process. Everyone loses. Politics, which should be interesting and even exciting at times, becomes boring. Go to a city council meeting sometime, if you want a two-hour nap.
Indeed, some remarks by some politicians and other public figures in the past have been truly offensive. They were wrong. But when we start making all racial or ethnic innuendo a taboo topic for discussion, then all that does is mask a much deeper problem. It doesn’t solve anything.
In his original remarks to the Asian group, Sen. Reid was not wong. After all, he’s white.
I hereby apologize if anyone was offended by that last remark. On second thought — no I don’t.