[Iran Press TV Latest] The US chairman of Republican National Committee (RNC), Michael Steele, has called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to abandon his post over his past racial derogatory remarks about President Barack Obama. The RNC leader, appearing on "Fox News Sunday," blasted Reid for describing Obama as a "light skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one," during the 2008 presidential race.
Calling for the resignation of the Nevada Democrat, Steele also accused his party colleagues of hypocrisy on the matter.
"There is this standard where Democrats feel that they can say these things and they can apologize when it comes from the mouths of their own. But if it comes from anyone else, it is racism," Steele told the TV show.
"If (Senate Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell had said those very words that this chairman and this president would be calling for his head, and they would be labeling every Republican in the country as a racist for saying exactly what this chairman has just said," Steele continued, referring to the comments Reid had made more than a year ago.
Reid apologized for his remarks on Saturday and the US president accepted the apology in a statement, saying "I accepted Harry's apology without question because I've known him for years."
The apology comes as Reid faces a difficult re-election amid frustration from both liberals and conservatives with his leadership in the Senate.