absurd accusations

Reid fires back on Obama replacement appointees

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shot back today at critics who have suggested racial politics is at play in his reported preference for white elected officials rather than African-Americans as potential appointees to replace Barack Obama in the Senate.

Reid, in an extensive interview on “Meet the Press,” also suggested that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is making up the details of a phone conversation the two had in which Reid offered his preferences in the days before the governor’s arrest for allegedly trying to sell Obama’s seat.

Reid spoke to Blagojevich, as he did other governors with open Senate seats, about possible appointees, in a call the majority leader’s office has said was routine.

Reports said Reid expressed support for veteran Tammy Duckworth and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, but rejected three African-American lawmakers he believed may not be able to win the seat in a subsequent election.

Republicans and supporters of Roland Burris, the former Illinois official Blagojevich appointed to the seat, have begun to suggest race is at play – a notion Reid quickly refuted as a distraction.

“To suggest anything racial is part of the Blagojevich spin to take away from the corruption that’s involved his office in Illinois,” Reid said, detailing his own long history of supporting black officials in Nevada and Washington.

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But, of course, the repugs don't want anything silly like facts getting in the way of one of their smears...