Apology accepted? It depends
Posted on 12/17/2002 4:24:55 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Apology accepted? It depends
Record often speaks louder than words in surviving racial gaffes
12/17/2002
When it comes to race, apologies may not be enough.
Trent Lott's situation shows that what a politician has or hasn't done on racial issues may do more to determine his fate than mere words of repentance, observers say.
"Race is the 'third rail' of American politics," said Dallas political consultant Rob Allyn. "They can survive financial scandals, sex scandals, foreign policy scandals. But let them make one remark in this area and it's all over."
In other words, touching the subject of race insensitively comes at high risk. Mr. Lott is the latest in a line of political figures to jeopardize his career by doing so. Few before him have survived politically.
The Mississippi Republican, who has apologized multiple times for remarks made at Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, may still have to relinquish Senate majority leadership. Mr. Lott's remark was widely interpreted as expressing a longing for the days of racial segregation.
"In a case like that, it's never enough to apologize," said Dr. Lorenzo Morris, interim chair of the political science department at Washington's Howard University.
"If Bob Dole had said something like that, his apology would be quite acceptable because he doesn't have the record of Trent Lott," Dr. Morris said. "An apology has to say something about behavior. It has to express a commitment to do something, to clear past behavior."
Lott's history
Mr. Lott's remarks are consistent with a long career of racial insensitivity both in what he has said and what he has done - and not done - in the Senate, said Dr. Morris.
For example, Mr. Lott opposed creation of a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and extension of the Voting Rights Act in 1982 - both measures, ironically, supported by Mr. Thurmond.
"There have been senators before who made racist statements," said Dr. Morris. "None of them were saying them at the time they were assuming national leadership, or at a time when those statements were clearly rejected by the majority of white voters."
Mr. Lott is only the most recent politician to get in trouble over race-related remarks. The rocky road of politics is strewn with the wrecked careers of public officials who, whatever was in their hearts, spoke before they thought.
Some apologized and managed to move on. Some did not.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson alienated Jews in 1984 by referring to New York City as "Hymietown," Dr. Morris said. But Mr. Jackson retained credibility because "he has a lifetime of fighting racism.
"Jesse did not have a history of that kind of remark, and he was not holding public office," he said. "Nevertheless, he was severely punished. He has not lived that down to this day."
Earl Butz, President Gerald Ford's agriculture secretary, was forced to resign in 1976 after he was overheard telling a racist joke.
James Watt, interior secretary under President Ronald Reagan, stepped down in 1983 after describing an advisory panel as composed of "every kind of mix you can have. I have a black, I have a woman, two Jews and a cripple."
Last year, California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante apologized repeatedly after using the n-word in a Black History Month speech to a group of African-American labor leaders. (He had meant to say "Negro," he said.) He kept his job.
Some political personalities are just more forgivable than others, said University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray. Mr. Lott's reputation as a straight-laced defender of the Old South and its segregationist ways left few willing to cut him slack.
'Political credit'
Mr. Allyn, the Dallas consultant, said politicians can survive such gaffes "if they have enough political credit built up with the group they've offended." Mr. Lott, he said, has no such credit.
"There's a difference between someone who tells an off-color joke or a politically incorrect joke after a few drinks," said Mr. Allyn, a Republican, "and somebody who has a long-held view that the country would be better off if it had elected a segregationist in 1948."
Apologies alone are not enough, he said.
"The honest thing for [Mr. Lott] to do is to fall on his sword, not just for the Republican Party but for the nation, to resign the majority leadership and resign his seat in the Senate.
"For the majority leader to embrace racism repeatedly is not just bad character, it's evil."
E-mail bmarvel@dallasnews.com
Apologies alone are not enough, he said.
"The honest thing for [Mr. Lott] to do is to fall on his sword, not just for the Republican Party but for the nation, to resign the majority leadership and resign his seat in the Senate.
"For the majority leader to embrace racism repeatedly is not just bad character, it's evil."
Really now? Well then, what about THIS Senator, who in June 2001, in an unprecedented shift of leadership...regained the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee and was re-elected President pro tempore of the Senate, never apologized for THIS 'gaffe', did he?.....
See this Michelle Malkin article about Robert Byrd from March 7, 2001
More 'RAT hypocrisy, media bias, and 'the GOP is the party of racists' ping.....
Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy. 
He better make sure his base is shored up and that he can pass the numbers test to become ML.
Yes, it depends. It depends on whether you are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican.
The Democrats have seized this like a drowning man and hanging on to the rope for dear life. Maybe like everything else they have tried, this too will be their undoing. Nothing was said about Bill Clinton honoring Senator Fulbright, an avowed segregationist with the Presidential Medal of Honor and less about the statue Clinton just dedicated to that racist in Arkansas.
Black Americans had better get thicker skins...they are being used again...by the Democrats of course!
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| Getting under my skin, it is time for him to act like a man. (28) | ||
| Making me realize how soft and sensative he is. (0) | ||
| Making me wonder why he is apologizing so much. (6) | ||
| Making me wonder what he hopes to accomplish, blacks vote 98% democrat. (13) | ||
| Giving me hope for a softer kinder Senate. (1) | ||
| Just an excuse to be on television. (0) | ||
| Sickening. (10) | ||
| Enlightening. (1) | ||
| Demonstrating the influence of susie collins and olympia snowe on the Senate. (0) | ||
| Showing us what a bunch of cowards the Republicans in the senate are. (16) | ||
Apology accepted? It dependsZackley !!Yes, it depends. It depends on whether you are liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican.
Definitely. Claim your share of the "Bullseye Award" on post #12 ! Thanks. 
They like being used from what I can tell.
If Lott steps down it will be a tacit self admission that he is a racist. The left will then pick up their broadbrush and by association will paint all Republicans as self admitted racists.
The race card works if you let it.
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