As much as I loath Harry Reid, he’s being slammed for saying something that ought not to draw any criticism.

CNN:

“He (Reid) was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama – a ‘light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,’ as he said privately. Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama’s race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination,” they write.

Barry Obama is half white, thus he is lighter skinned than many black men. He does not have an accent when he speaks, unless he chooses to use one – much like Rev. Jesse Jackson. Both are facts and not subject to dispute.

I cannot provide proof that a light skinned black man would do better in an election than a dark skinned black man. It is a moot point since Obama did win the election and his race was indeed a factor.

A 2004 article about the play “Yellowman”, by Dael Orlandersmith, explored the issue of color within the black community as seen in the play.

From The People’s News:

Leeds is among the millions of blacks trying, for the first time, to enunciate clearly and properly use all the words they speak. This attention to language actually is a return to their roots. Until the mid-1960s, blacks, including groundbreakers like Jackie Robinson and Malcolm X, spoke in a cadence that sounded whiter than someone asking for Grey Poupon.

“If Malcolm walked up behind you and started talking, you would think ‘What white man has come in here?’” the late black nationalist’s friend, Elliott Saffron, told The Peoples News. “What Malcolm was saying was black, but how he was saying it was white.”

There was a paradigm shift, however, in the late 1960s when the speech patterns of blacks like Stepin Fetchit and Buckwheat—who had previously been considered buffoons—became a favored way of speaking. ‘Talking white’ became an insult.

New Black Man blog:

The notion of “talking white” and “acting white” have long been bandied about in black communities, but for a nation that has historically chosen to be oblivious to the inner dynamics of Black life in America, such a discussion elicits a fresh focus. It was just last year that perennial protest candidate Ralph Nader accused then Senator Obama of “talking white” as part of Obama’s effort to assuage white voter fears that he might be cut from the same cloth of traditional Civil Rights leaders. Nader’s comments would have been offensive, if not for the fact that there quite a few Black Americans who also read diction as an index of racial authenticity.

The black community as a whole does not recognize all their black brothers and sisters as equal. Being human, they have the same mix of prejudices and stereotypes as any of us. The notion that Harry Reid was being racist for recognizing two true facts about then candidate Obama and concluding that they would help his candidacy is plain stupid.

One list can be found by clicking on the image in the upper left or by going to Tea Party Patriots.

A second list may be found at Tea Party Day.

Be sensible. These parties are both a grassroots movement and the efforts of a number of regional and national groups with agendas. The followers of Ron Paul are heavily involved in some areas. The Libertarian Party is also an organizer in places. If Barry Obama’s “real” birth certificate is not something you worry about, or the actions of the Tri-Lateral Commission bore you, you might find some of the people at a Tea Party just a little off-putting.

A large number of people with a variety of beliefs are joining together for this movement. Bite your tongue or keep it firmly planted in your cheek if you must, but the overarching message of the movement must come through to the media and those undecideds. We are tired of graft, corruption, taxation and the lack of control over our own lives and our own earnings.

Play nice for the cameras. If interviewed, be concise and direct. Taxes, pork and government out of control. A, B and C.

Yet again, I will close an election disappointed in the Republican Party. We lost and lost soundly.

The only good thing is that the Democrats will not have a veto proof majority in Congress. And, of course, we get to vote again in two years.

South Florida is demonstrating tonight why we ought to let UN observers conduct the elections there. Palm Beach County in particular cannot seem to run an election. The mechanics are simple enough for most of Florida’s counties. What is the problem in South Florida?

We do have to find a national way to count votes. Our current system is wide open to abuse, and the notion that Gary Indiana can be one of the last places in the nation to records its votes is silly.

It appears the exit polling was correct this time. Wishful thinking about Pennsylvania and Virginia have given way to disappointment. As I write this McCain has 146 electoral votes and can count on only 13 more from Arizona and Alaska. I’m hoping he gets over 50 million votes.

Twitter was a decent tool for following the chatter on the net. Fox News goofed up their map. BBC and MSNBC had good resources all night. CNN’s map page resolved to text only for me all night.

Tomorrow will bring the final results. I can wait.

Here’s my final prediction. 270 needed to win. Real Clear Politics has the tool to create this map. Remember that you only need to win by one vote to win all the electoral votes in the state. I’ll predict the final percentages for votes cast, anyway. McCain 50.9% Obama 48.8%