GOP's Steele Calls for Reid to Step Down as Leader Because of Racial Remarks

Steele, speaking on Fox News Sunday and NBC's Meet the Press, said the same standard should apply to Reid as was applied to former Majority Leader Trent Lott in 2002 when Republicans controlled the Senate.

Lott lost his job after praising former Strom Thurmond's segregationist campaign for President in 1948, saying if he had won, "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years." Lott made the remarks at a 100th birthday party for the late senator.

"There's a big double standard here," Steele said on NBC. "When Democrats get caught saying racist things, an apology is enough . If that had been (GOP Minority Leader) Mitch McConnell saying that about an African-American candidate for president of the United States, trust me ...the DNC would be screaming for his head very much like they were with Trent Lott."

On Fox, Steele said, "It's either racist or it's not. And it's inappropriate, absolutely. So if the standard is the one that we saw with Trent Lott as speaker -- as a leader at the time, then I think this absolutely falls in that category."

Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine, appearing on the same programs, said Reid had apologized and Obama had accepted and "the case is closed." He said there was "no comparison" between the case of Reid, who expressed enthusiasm for Obama's candidacy and that of Lott, who was praising a candidate who stood for segregation.

The book "Game Change," a behind-the-scenes chronicle of the 2008 campaign, said Reid had been "wowed" by Obama and said that the country was ready for a black President, especially one who was "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

He called Obama on Saturday to apologize. Obama accepted, saying later in a statement, "I've seen the passionate leadership he's shown on issues of social justice and I know what's in his heart. As far as I am concerned, the book is closed."

The political fencing over Reid's remarks continued on CBS' Face the Nation. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Reid should not step down over the remarks. "All of us are imperfect. Clearly this was a mistake," she said. "Clearly the leader misspoke. He has also apologized. He has not only apologized to the president, I think he has apologized to all of the black leadership that he could reach. So the president has accepted the apology. And it would seem to me that the matter should be closed."

But Republican Rep. Peter Hoekstra said, "I think that clearly this is going to be an issue that the Democrats are going to have to deal with internally as to whether these kinds of statements -- they believe these kinds of statements are appropriate from their leader in the Senate. And then it becomes a personal issue for Senator Reid. Does he believe that with this on his record he should still maintain his position as a leader in the Senate."

But unlike Steele, he added, "It is a Democrat issue. It is a personal issue. Republicans ought to stand on the sidelines and let the Democrats work through this process."