But then again, fifty some odd years ago, this was also acceptable:
Posted on 12/11/2002 5:12:22 PM PST by RCW2001
JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 11, 2002
©2002 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/12/11/national1950EST0835.DTL
(12-11) 16:50 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
Senate Republican leader Trent Lott tried to help Bob Jones University keep its federal tax-exempt status despite the school's policy prohibiting interracial dating two decades before his recent comments stirred a race controversy.
"Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy," Lott, then a congressman from Mississippi, wrote in a 1981 friend of the court brief that unsuccessfully urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Internal Revenue Service from stripping the university's tax exemption.
The old court filing surfaced on a day when Lott tried to quell criticism, fueled by Democrats, over remarks he made at a birthday party last week for 100-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. Lott had suggested the country would have been better off if Thurmond, running for president on a pro-segregationist ticket in 1948, had won.
White House officials said President Bush found the remarks indefensible but said they expected Lott to weather the storm.
Making the rounds on television news shows, Lott said Wednesday his comments were a "mistake of the head and not of the heart" and added "the words were terrible and I regret that."
Bob Jones University is a fundamentalist Christian school in Greenville, S.C., and its ban on interracial dating among students has long stirred controversy, from the judicial nominations of jurists who have been involved in the school's various legal fights to presidential candidates, including President Bush, who have been criticized for visiting the campus.
The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 to strip the school of its tax exemption about two years after Lott filed his brief.
"The government now advocates penalizing Bob Jones University for its uncontestedly genuine religious beliefs," Lott wrote in his brief. "... To hold that this religious institution is subject to tax because of its interracial dating policies would clearly raise grave First Amendment questions."
Though the university was located in South Carolina and the case involved the ruling of an appeals court in Richmond, Va., Lott asked in 1981 that his views as a Mississippi congressman be heard as a "friend of the court" to protect Congress' interest and the interests of other religious institutions in his own state that might be affected.
In his filing, Lott compared the university's ban on interracial dating to other universities' affirmative action policies that recruited blacks to make student populations more diverse.
"If racial discrimination in the interest of diversity does not violate public policy, then surely discrimination in the practices of religion is no violation," he argued.
The filing came to light as the controversy over his remarks on Thurmond's birthday continued Wednesday.
Democrats called for Lott's resignation as GOP Senate leader. "I simply do not believe the country can today afford to have someone who has made these statements again and again be the leader of the United States Senate," said Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., one of several potential 2004 presidential candidates to weigh in against Lott.
No Republican senator has called for Lott to step down from the majority leader post he is to take over next month.
"The words were wrong, inappropriate, but his track record is one which is very aggressively committed to fairness in our society," said Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.
However, the four Republican appointees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a joint statement deploring Lott's comments as a "particularly shameful remark coming from a leader of the Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, and the party that supported all of these essential steps forward far more vigorously than did the Democratic Party, which at the time was the home of Congressional southerners committed to white supremacy."
Lott, at Thurmond's birthday event, said Mississippians were proud to have voted for Thurmond in 1948. "And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."
At first, Lott tried to deflect criticism, saying his speech was only meant to be lighthearted praise of the retiring Thurmond. He later apologized that "a poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth."
The Jackson Clarion-Ledger in Mississippi reported Wednesday that Lott made a very similar statement when he appeared with Thurmond at a rally in Jackson, Miss., on Nov. 2, 1980. After Thurmond spoke against federal pre-emption of state laws, Lott said, "You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today."
©2002 Associated Press
He honestly believes the country would be better off if segregation had won the day. Good or ill, that's what he really thinks. Except he hasn't the spine to admit it like a man.
I say it is time for the Republicans to "make him an offer he can't refuse."
This is only the beginning. There are going to be Lexus searches on every Republican member of Congress starting tommorow.
Lott is going to have to step down, because with Bob Jones U, he has now tied this controversy to Bush.
Thanks again, Trent. It was nice knowing you, buddy.
You sound like a Democrat. Mississippi has a RAT governor. Do you think he will appoint a Republican?
MEMO TO ALL DEMOCRATS: TRY AGAIN IN TWO YEARS.
I just wished Amy Tuck was MS's governor. We could make a clean break, then. He'll still be in the Senate. Maybe he'll resign should Barbour win in 2003.
I don't want Lott around our necks in 2004-- neither does the guy at the top of the ticket I guaran-damn-tee you.
There is surely more to come.
Lott is not a racist, and the suggestion he is a racist plays right into the hands of the Party of Clinton.
You want Lott replaced, then do it on true merits. But don't fall for this straw man.
But then again, fifty some odd years ago, this was also acceptable:
So what. You don't need Lexus to know about Robert KKK Byrd and Jesse H. Jackson. Why should this change anything?
There is only one chance for Trent. That is to go back to the Democratic party where he came from and take Chaffee with him. The meidia would drop the story in 15 seconds if he did. Two weeks later they would start blame evil right wing Republicans for taking a good man down for a slip of the tougue. As each thing dubya tried failded to even be considered the meida would bame Dubya and ROVE for driving them to give the Senate control to the Democrats.
I know that Daschle would be tickled pink to have Lott and Chaffee in the Democrat fold. That would make Daschle Marjority leader for 2 years and ensure a liberal supreme court. They could block any attemts to fix the economy. That would ensure a real recession in 2004 and bring the Denmocrats roaring back.
All they would need to do then is re instate the fairness doctrine and all the Talk radio shows become illegal. If they extended the fairness doctrince to the internet then Free Republic would be illegal too.
Why don't you drive Lott out, encourage Chafee, Snowe and McCain to go with them. That would give the Democrats a 2 seat majority on all senate committees and ensure economic policies designed to make this recession double dip.
If they could get Dubya gone in 2004 and have the senate and house, by 2008 they can have a 6 to 3 majority on the supreme court and make Gun ownership as it is in England, and enact Canada style health care.
Daschle at first said this is not big deal, then said that Trent should just explain more. Daschle is keeping his powder dry. If Trent gets fired, it is likely there will be two more Democrats and perhaps 3 or 4 in the Senate before the first of the year.
If you fire Trent, then you are going to think Jeffords 2 years ago was a picnic and President Kerry and Vice President Clinton are great. Did I mention Chief Justice Bill Clinton?
You got a death wish!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.