Janie-

Bingo. And since the word "coward" raises visceral reactions--especially among the people Holder might be aiming at--see the amazingly violent and long-lasting reaction to the much milder "bitter"--it was the wrong word for Holder to use.

As anybody with a smattering of knowledge of psychology would see.



Especially since President Obama doesn't need anybody to pick needless fights when he has enough on his plate with the economy and the foreign situation.

And since President Obama has said--over and over--it's time to get beyond the us vs them mentality.

As I noted earlier, I suspect President Obama has informed Mr. Holder of this--and we won't hear any more obviously incendiary terms from Mr. Holder again. And he now realizes he lives in a fishbowl.

And before Mudcatters yet again drone on about how this is dodging an important issue:

1) It is in fact possible to discuss race without insulting your discussion partners.
2) It's actually far more important, as several posters have noted, how you treat people day to day. Talk is cheap.

And it's also worth noting, that due to the real crises now going on, Holder's remark--almost everywhere else but Mudcat--is at this point nothing but a trivia question.