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Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Weaksauce

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jan 4 2009, 11:30 AM ET Comment

Watching Harry Reid on MTP. Not a good look. At all. More later.

UPDATE: For those wondering what, specifically, I'm referring to, dig Reid's mushy performance below. From what I can tell, Blago is playing this dude like a fiddle. I found his legal arguments to be unpersuasive. Moreover, why Reid thinks telling people that the Senate decides who they'll, seat and who they won't, will play well, is beyond me. But most disturbing, I found his denial about Jesse/Danny/Emil to be not credible. The "I don't remember" part is particularly disturbing. Dude, it was only a month ago. I don't believe that the Illinois Senate seat should be a "black seat." But I also don't think disqualifying three black possibilities, for someone who lost a congressional run, is smart politics. I've always waved off complaints about Reid's relative weakness. I'll have to look harder at those charges now.

UPDATE#2:
Here's Dick Durbin. Much, much, much more effective. I'm still skeptical, but he was much better. He was better defending Harry Reid, than Harry Reid was.



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