Schieffer: Harry Reid Will Survive ... 'til Election Day
This weekend Republican officials have called for the resignation of Harry Reid, D-Nev., as Senate Majority Leader, after he was quoted in the book (to be released on Tuesday) as saying that candidate Barack Obama's chances of victory would be helped because he was "a light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." President Obama accepted the Senator's apology Saturday.
(Above: Obama and Reid in 2006.)
Some Republicans charged Democrats with a double-standard if Reid does not lose his post, as GOP Sen. Trent Lott did after comments he made in 2002 about Sen. Strom Thurmond, an ardent segregationist during the rise of the civil rights movement. [On "Face the Nation" Sunday Sen. Dianne Feinstein said .]
CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer said today that he did not think the two situations were analogous — at least politically — and that Reid will not lose his leadership position no matter how much noise the Republicans make.
"We were told yesterday that this is different than the time when Trent Lott, the Republican leader of the Senate, said that the country would have been better off basically had Strom Thurmond, a segregationist, been elected president.
"Trent Lott at that point was having a lot of problems with the White House, and with his own party, and the White House just sort of threw him over the side, abandoned him; he had to step down. This time you have a White House that does need Harry Reid right now. So I think that Reid will survive as the Democratic leader in the Senate.
"However, this is going to make it much harder for him to be reelected out in Nevada, where he is already in very bad trouble. He's running about 10 points behind every Republican that has announced they're going to run. So I think this is more trouble for Harry Reid than it is for the White House at this point."
Also discussed in the book is Sarah Palin. On Sunday the book's authors described how the McCain campaign's foreign policy tutors took her through World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, after McCain's campaign manager had gone to them saying, "She knows nothing."
"This book takes more shots at her and her supposed lack of knowledge," said "Early Show" anchor Maggie Rodriguez. "We heard former campaign manager for the McCain campaign, Steve Schmidt, tell "60 Minutes" that she didn't know anything. This book goes further, claiming that that included World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War. Does this affect her politically?"
"My take on Sarah Palin has always been she will never again seek public office," said Schieffer. "This is someone, Maggie, who resigned the governorship of Alaska, and I think it would be very, very difficult for her. In any primary that comes up, the first thing a candidate against her is going to say, 'Well, how long do you intend to stay if you get elected? If elected, do you promise to quit if the going to gets tough?'
"I think Sarah Palin is very popular with the Right side of the Republican Party. I think she can raise a lot of money for them. I think you'll going to see her on the lecture circuit. But I have never thought that she would be a viable candidate again. That is my opinion, clearly labeled, but I just don't think she has a future as a candidate. As a fund-raiser, as a celebrity, yes, but as a candidate, I really don't think this really makes that much difference."
Republicans Keep the Heat on Harry Reid
Dianne Feinstein: Reid Comments a "Closed" Matter
Reid Apologizes for "Negro Dialect" Remark
60 Minutes: More Revelations from "Game Change"