On page 37, a remark, said "privately" by Sen. Harry Reid, about Barack Obama's racial appeal. Though Reid would later say that he was neutral in the presidential race, the truth, the authors write, was that his

encouragement of Obama was unequivocal. He 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.

Obviously Reid's "private" comments were not private enough.

Look, a candidate's skin color shouldn't matter at all, of course. Of course. But it would be silly to pretend that it is not a factor in how people evaluate other people. Reid is being hammered for failing to pretend something silly. There are plenty of good and sufficient reasons to dislike Reid and hope he loses in November. But he's getting a bum rap on this, and Republicans should save their ammunition for more important battles.

The weird part of it all is that none if was was necessary to have been said in the first place. Even stranger is that it did not come out until after Reid did Obama's bidding with the Health Care bill.

It would have been better had he said nothing at all. Those who are elected to write our laws, which require a really good grasp on the English language, really should be held accountable for their use of words.