Segregation Lott Today, Segregation Lott Tommorrow, Segregation Lott Forever!
by Kevin November 15th, 2006
Gee, and people wonder why the GOP has such a hard time winning minority votes:
Sen. Trent Lott, ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the No. 2 post Wednesday for the minority GOP in the next Congress.
Lott returned to the center of power by getting the position of vote-counting GOP whip, nosing out Sen. Lamar Alexander. Sen. Rick Santorum told reporters that Lott beat Alexander by a 25-24 vote.
After an intense evening in which both men lobbied colleagues during floor votes, the Republican caucus elected Lott, a one-time whip and majority leader, by secret ballot. Lott will be the GOP’s second-in-command to Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was elected unanimously to be the Senate minority leader in the new Congress.
Notice how CNN downplays those comments? Trent Lott said this about segregationist Strom Thurmond:
Here is what Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, said yesterday at Senator Strom Thurmond’s birthday party, according to ABCNEWS’ O’Keefe. “I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn’t of had all these problems over all these years, either.”
This is what Thurmond ran on. This is a more verbose accounting:
“I want to tell you, ladies and gentleman, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.”
—Strom Thurmond, then-governor of South Carolina, in a speech from his 1948 “Dixiecrat” presidential campaign. To hear an audio clip, click here.
And, by the way, Trent Lott wrote for and/or allowed to his writings to appear in the magazine of a racist organization in the 1990s.
This is the man the GOP Caucus in the senate choose as their number two leader. So much for the new GOP.
Categories: Politics |
Holy cow! Chew that cud again.
*cough*Robert Byrd*cough*
SD
Congratulations on winning the “irrelevant Comparison Award” Because, as we all now, Robert Byrd — man who has put his racist past behind and has spent the last several decades as a fried to civil rights — is exactly the same thing as a man who thinks, in 2002, that it would have been good for the country if the Segregationists had taken control.
In other news, Buicks are now the same thing as apples, black is the same thing as white, and libertarians will go to any length to justify their silly notions that “everyone is equally bad all the time”.
“man who has put his racist past behind”
So did Strom Thurmond, but that doesn’t stop racebaiters such as you.
Since you are so sensitive, how about Sen. Reid using a story about homosexuals to make fun of his relationship with his fellow Nevada senator, John Ensign? He said they would be close but not “Brokeback Mountain” close. How insensitive! That chip on your shoulder must be quivering over that.
Do you think that they brought this up at his funeral? I’m pretty sure Strom Thurmond got a nice eulogy instead of a heaping helping of hate. Because you say nice things at funerals.
One usually says nice things at birthday parties too. While Trent’s comment was the famous first tremor of bloggers keeping a story alive until the media couldn’t possibly ignore it, I’m willing to give Trent a pass, and at least as far as a pass that Strom Thurmond seemed to have got. Because I’m willing to bet Trent just put his foot in his mouth while trying to ad lib saying something nice.
Get over it.
“Get over it.”
Are you kidding? These turkeys (left leaning bloggers) are the most hateful, bigoted, spiteful, unforgiving people you will ever come across.
SM
Then Trent Lott is the stupidest person alive. thurmond was none for one thng and one thing only — his segregationist run for president. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence would have known to stay away from praising that.
And I suppose that Strom;s birthday party last all the way back itno the 90s, when Trent was palling around with the racist CCC? Man, that was one hell of a birthday party. or how about in 1908, when he said essentially the same thing? Wow, that was the grandest birthday party ever!
Thanks for proving my point about leftist bloggers.
I am surprised that nobody has taken Lott to task for claiming that he voted for Thurmond, since he was only 8 or 9 years old at the time.
Was it a stupid thing to say? No doubt. Does Lott really long for a return to those segregationist ways that existed when he was growing up? I doubt it, but nobody will know for sure. Does it really matter? Not to me. What matters to me is his record and his actions as an elected official, not a 30 second sound bite at a birthday party. That said, the position he will hold is not really about ideology but rather performance. He is adept at navigating the process of Congress, and that is what he will be doing. I don’t think he will be spearheading a drive to reinstate segregation.
On a purely symbolic level (which most times seems to be the only level that gets traction with the public), his election (by a one vote margin mind you), will send a signal to minorities about the Republican Party.
Ted
its nto one event, as the post itself points out. Lott is an unrecontstructed racist, as is proven by his history. It will send a signal to minorities becasue the GOP just elected a racist to its number two spot in the Senate.
“I am surprised that nobody has taken Lott to task for claiming that he voted for Thurmond, since he was only 8 or 9 years old at the time.”
You are a petty little man. You know good and well what he meant.
Fred, your denseness is truly dazzling.
Hey, Bud, I’m not the one who made the stupid (dense) statement that Lott claimed to have voted for Thurmond.
BTW, I don’t like Lott either. I think he is a spineless person and was a terrible majority leader. I don’t like it that he is back in a leadership role.
Fred, once again I find myself dragged into an inane debate with you. If you read my comment, and take a moment to reflect on the meaning, I think even you will understand it. However, given your history here, perhaps I need to explain it for you.
By using language such as “we voted for him, we are proud of it”, Lott was clearly speaking in a generic context, and not making literal statements. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that context remained intact for the next sentence. Platitudes are platitudes, not political position statements. And, it was a stupid thing to say, especially in light of his background.
I am unwilling to invest any more in this thread, so if you are still confused, you will need to work it out by yourself.
“By using language such as “we voted for him, we are proud of it”, Lott was clearly speaking in a generic context, and not making literal statements.”
I’m not confused. You are a very strange person. You were the one who said, “I am surprised that nobody has taken Lott to task for claiming that he voted for Thurmond, since he was only 8 or 9 years old at the time.” I am the one who took him to mean that he was clearly speaking in a generic context, and not making literal statements. Why would you think someone would take him to task for something that obviously did not happen?
Sorry to make you break your promise not to respond to me. I guess that was just another one of those lies that liberals like to tell. Now, go see your shrink or your English teacher.
Trent Lott’s birthday comments matter because he is a very public figure and should have known better. Leaving aside the insensitivity he displayed, it was just plain dumb.
True, as one poster put it, “You say nice things at funerals, B-day parties, etc.” But to that I say, even at his funeral, you don’t say Scrooge was the most generous of men.
“Scrooge was the most generous of men.”
Strom Thurmond was.
Fred Says:
I hope you are not referring to the token African-American woman he hired when he “changed his spots” that ended up secretly being his daughter (conceived well before he was an elected congress-critter anti-civil rights Democrat)
(And that’s pretty much what I mean by Strom getting a pass)
No, I mean what Thurmond was to the people of his state. He helped people regardless of race or status. Why are liberals such mean, unforgiving people?