Posted on 12/17/2002 9:35:07 PM PST by Pokey78
LEXINGTON, Mass.
I don't know what's in Trent Lott's heart, although he's already talked far too much about it for my taste. But two things are clear. A lot of Americans, including most black Americans, will never believe his contrition. And Mr. Lott, by playing the supplicant while clinging to his post as Senate majority leader, has conceded Republican leadership on race-related issues to the Democrats and the traditional civil rights community.
In his interview Monday on Black Entertainment Television, Mr. Lott called the controversy a "wake-up call," talked of a bipartisan "task force of reconciliation," came out for "across the board" affirmative action and savaged his own lawmaking decisions with the bizarre claim that "my actions, I think, don't reflect my voting record." Read between the lines: he will now take his cues from the Democrats and their allies like the N.A.A.C.P. and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Thus, the original tragedy — remarks that certainly sounded racist at Strom Thurmond's birthday bash — is compounded by his new posture as groveler-in-chief of the Republican Party. At a time when fighting racial inequality requires a willingness to challenge the mainstream civil rights establishment, Mr. Lott's party will no longer be able to stand tall.
On BET, Mr. Lott was defensive about receiving an F on the latest N.A.A.C.P. Congressional report card, saying that that "I have been changing." Yet this report grades politicians on such partisan, non-civil rights matters as their votes on extending unemployment benefits to aviation workers and increasing global AIDS financing. Not surprisingly, every Senate Republican received an F — even moderates like Lincoln Chafee and Olympia Snow. Mr. Lott can aim for a better mark, but he won't get one, not as a Republican.
The shame is that surrendering civil rights issues to the left would not be in the public interest or that of black Americans. Democrats and civil rights organizations are stuck staring into a rearview mirror. Of course, racism has not entirely disappeared, but the Democrats' attachment to yesterday's ideas — that inequalities can best be corrected through policies of racial preference — is a golden opportunity for Republicans to advance new ideas.
Take what is arguably today's most important civil rights issue: the racial gap in academic achievement. Robert Moses, a luminous figure in the civil rights movement of the 1960's, says that "the absence of math literacy . . . is an issue as urgent as the lack of registered black voters in Mississippi was in 1961." English literacy is equally important.
Yet the political left talks almost entirely of "re-segregated" and underfunded schools, and pushes for more busing and more spending, a strategy that has failed for decades. Democrats also believe in collective bargaining rules that allow dreadful teachers to retain their jobs. Their emphasis on "self-esteem" results in the dumbing-down of educational standards, what President Bush has rightly called "the soft bigotry of low expectations."
After an era of liberal leadership, the typical black or Hispanic student graduates from high school today with junior high skills, according to the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress.
If Mr. Lott cedes civil rights issues to the Democrats, how can Republicans in Congress join the majority of black parents who want vouchers so that their children can escape public schools that have become graveyards for hope?
For years, Republicans have run in terror from most controversial race-related issues. But it was not always so. More than 80 percent of Republicans in Congress voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Congressional Republicans can recapture the moral high ground — but not if their Senate leaders are unable to stand up to groups that are often at odds with the interests and even the views of their own minority constituents.
Abigail Thernstrom is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
| Contact Information for Trent Lott | |
| Web Site: lott.senate.gov E-mail: senatorlott@lott.senate.gov |
|
| Washington Office 487 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510-2403 Phone: (202) 224-6253 Fax: (202) 224-2262 |
Greenwood Phone: (662) 453-5681 Fax: (662) 453-8974 Address: 200 E. Washington St., #145 Greenwood, MS 38930 |
| Main District Office 245 E. Capitol St., #226 Jackson, MS 39201 Phone: (601) 965-4644 Fax: (601) 965-4007 |
Oxford Phone: (662) 234-3774 Fax: (662) 234-1744 Address: 911 Jackson Ave., #127 Oxford, MS 38655 |
| Jackson Phone: (601) 965-4644 Fax: (601) 965-4007 Address: 245 E. Capitol St., #226 Jackson, MS 39201 |
Pascagoula Phone: (228) 762-5400 Fax: (228) 762-0137 Address: 3100 S. Pascagoula St. Pascagoula, MS 39567 |
Exactly. And it's what the Democrats do without failure whenever they lose at the ballot box.
Well, she's walkin' through the clouds...
With her Lib'ral Mind...RAT's mind-numbed child.
Sure, Slick lies and Bill RAPES...still FOOLS kneel!!
Willie, fare thee well...
Yer all MUD ever thinks about!!!
Sorry 'Bout Ol' Slick!!
Sure, I'm MAD...that's why I FReep!!
With Ten Thousand Smiles FRiends give to me FRee...)8^D!!
"Yes, we're Right!!" MUD says, "Left Ain't Right!!
Yes, MUD shall sing fer Justice, Beel...SlixMUDZbi+c#!!......SlixMUDZbi+c#!!
(BigMan on Lead...Disco on rhythm)
FReegards...MUD
BULL-$#!+ !!! I taped Spike Lee's comments off Rush today and took it over to a buddy of mine's who just happens to be black and--after listening and arguin'--we both agreed that Spike Lee is a RACIST LOWLIFE SCUM-SUCKIN' HollyWeirdo who simply needs to git his swarmy, SlickWillieButt-lickin' arse whupped!!
This is killing the RATS accross the board!! They are severely underestimating the intelligence of the American Sheeple and it is nothing more than a stepping-stone to their inevitable status as a Third Party by the end of this decade!!
I'm very close to predicting The RAT candidate fer POTUS will not win a single state in '04!!
FReegards...MUD
If Bush is in that category, then so be it.
There is no material substance to racism. All younger generations can now clearly understand the Democratic party and those within in are clearly a sham and unfortunately too many RINOs share the same disdain.
Lott's a DUMBASS!! And he needn't recieve the honor of becoming Senate Leader this coming January. He oughtta stay a Senator from Mississippi and enjoy the life of those 99 other Senators who ain't SenateMajorityLeader!! Is that so bad?!
FReegards...MUD
Excuse me? Bush got a whopping 8% of the black vote in 2000. There is NO way the GOP can offer the black vote enough to make them become republican voters and even if we did, what did we gain?
Either you are living on another planet or you have withdrawn from reality completely when it comes to Trent Lott.
This man has more than once publically stated that he thought the country would be better off if a Dixiecrat segregationist had won the Presidency.
Most people, especially those who fought the struggle for equal rights for all people regardless of skin color, are offended by such remarks. Nobody in their right mind thinks that we would be better off in America if segregationists were in power.
Lott has also praised Jefferson Davis and connected the Republican party to this segregationist who once defended the right to keep black slaves.
Lott also once lead a successfull effort to ban blacks from a college fraternity in his college days.
And you have "yet to have read or heard one iota of any wrongdoing by Trent Lott."??? Incredible.
HA!!
Well you just let me know when you arrive, son.
'Cuz I'd like to take that bet.
In fact?
....I got dibs. {g}
Does that include D.C.? Benedict Arnold could run as a DemonRat in D.C. and would get their three electoral votes by virtue of the D next to his name.
Much as they gave Aldork all the time he wanted to bash the President under the guise of promoting his book.
The results of this despicable bias will mirror the results of Aldork's book sales.
Wrong. At the honorable Senator's 100th birthday party, He said Strom Thurmond might have done the country more good had Strom received what he sought... to become President instead of Senator, referring to an instance in the Senator's career and life some 60 years ago..
Stop contriving arguments, liar.
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