“There is no Grand Wizard in the party right now who can really force the issue.”
No “Grand Wizard?”
Gregory later apologized on Twitter:
Sorry, but I can’t take his apology seriously until he repeats it on air, on the same program. Posting his apology on Twitter where it’s safe to say the majority of his viewing audience won’t see it is the equivalent of running a hot mess on the front of the NYT but retracting it later on page 17a, near the footer, in a tiny, italicized font. He cheapens the apology by assuming we’re obtuse enough to believe the phrase doesn’t hold the same connotation for him as it does to the rest of America. I know of no other group which employs a “Grand Wizard” but one. Gregory was speaking of a black Republican in relation to the GOP’s strategy; there is no explanation. If he “wasn’t thinking,” then it’s sad he possesses such a Pavlovian reflex to associate the KKK with the GOP.
Gregory employed the strategy of “act first, apologize later,” because it’s easier to do. By dropping something as non sequitur as “Grand Wizard” in a conversation about the GOP a seed was planted, an association made.
But saying that you “just weren’t thinking” is easier than admitting your bias.
If the GOP are fully-witted, they’ll cancel their upcoming debate with NBC until an on-air apology is made. Would you consent to a debate on a network whose hosts refer to your party as the KKK and brush it off on Twitter?