Sen. Klobuchar: No double standard regarding Reid and Lott remarks

No double standard exists regarding racially insensitive remarks made by former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), a Democratic senator said Tuesday. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) told KARE 11 TV Minneapolis that both racial remarks made by the two majority leaders were inappropriate despite complaints from Republicans that Lott was treated more harshly than Reid.

"There's no double standard. Everyone agrees what he said wasn't appropriate," Klobuchar said, "It was inappropriate what Trent Lott said. It was inappropriate what Harry Reid said."

Despite Klobuchar's claims, several Republicans earlier this week, including Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, called on Reid to resign his post as majority leader.

It is reported in the forthcoming book Game Changer that Reid on the 2008 campaign trail praised then-Sen. Barack Obama for being "light skinned" and using "no Negro dialect."

Republicans pointed to the fact that Lott was forced to step down as majority leader in 2002 after he lauded the segregationist 1948 presidential campaign of Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) at his 100th birthday party. 

Most Senate Democrats have stayed mum on Reid's remarks, though Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) refused to support the Nevada senator in a local television interview Monday.

Senate Republicans have largely refused to call for Reid's ouster.

After it was reported this weekend that Reid made the remarks, he apologized to Obama and members of his staff. Obama accepted the apology.

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