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Trent Lott should resign as Majority Leader.
vanity | 12-9-02 | Adam Case

Posted on 12/09/2002 12:07:36 PM PST by ACAC

This is not easy to do. I have liked Trent Lott for most of his career. However I believe his recent comments have gone to far. He needs to resign as majority leader. Here is what he said: Speaking Thursday at a 100th birthday party and retirement celebration for Sen. Thurmond (R-S.C.) in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Lott said, "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 followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

Thurmond, then governor of South Carolina, was the presidential nominee of the breakaway Dixiecrat Party in 1948. He carried Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and his home state. He declared during his campaign against Democrat Harry S. Truman, who supported civil rights legislation, and Republican Thomas Dewey: "All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches."

On July 17, 1948, delegates from 13 southern states gathered in Birmingham to nominate Thurmond and adopt a platform that said in part, "We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race."

What does he mean by this? If you are a black American reading this, what must you think. It is not just bad for the Republican Party, it is bad for America. A black American should be able to know that the leaders of their government are not hostile to them. That should be in the past and not the present. This statement, however Lott finds a way to spin this, should mean the end of his tenure as majority leader. Enough is enough.


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: effingjwbstrd; granddragonbyrd; hymietown; trentlott
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1 posted on 12/09/2002 12:07:36 PM PST by ACAC
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To: ACAC
AC
2 posted on 12/09/2002 12:08:06 PM PST by ACAC
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To: ACAC
Here's a link to a one-hour video and audio recording of the C-SPAN broadcast of Thurmond's birthday celebration. It includes Lott's entire speech. I have in on my screen now and I'm reviewing it.

http://www.c-span.org/politics/

The link to the Javascript is at about the center of the C-SPAN page. I'll transcribe the remarks by Lott, preceding his "all these problems" statement. There is no printed transcript on the Internet that I can find, at least not yet.

Feel free to click on the link above, download the 1-hour recording and follow along with me. If you're following along with me, fast-forward to exactly halfway through the recording. That is where Lott's speech starts.

Dole introduced Lott by mentioning that when Strom Thurmond was landing by glider in Normandy on June 6, 1944 Trent Lott was only three years old. http://www.c-span.org/politics/

Verbatim transcript of the beginning of Trent Lott's speech:

Well thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you my good friend and my predecessor, my hero, Bob Dole, for that introduction, that very brief introduction I might add [Laughter] But for Senator Strom Thurmond's family and friends and admirers all, it's a great pleasure for me to be here with you today, and I know that you're enjoying every minute of this. And I knew that the previous remarks would be just as they were. I mean, after all, Bob Dole received the Republican nomination and dang near was elected President of the United States telling Strom Thurmond jokes. [Laughter] If he'd just gotten himself some new material there toward the end he would have done it. [Laughter] I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for President we voted for him. [Laughter] We're proud of it. [More laughter] And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.

HE WAS JOKING, PEOPLE.

The quotation that has been bandied about as so-called "proof" of Lott's "racism" was clearly told for laughs. It was at the beginning of the speech, after Dole told a few Strom Thurmond jokes. Then Lott stood up and said that in 1996, Dole was nominated for President "and dang near was elected President of the United States telling Strom Thurmond jokes."

Then came the quotation that everyone is bleating about, and it got a few laughs, exactly as Lott had clearly intended. Then came more jokes, including one about how "the Capitol froze over" inserted in place of "hell freezes over," and a reference to Dole's Pepsi commercial with Britney Spears.

3 posted on 12/09/2002 12:10:03 PM PST by CenterRight
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To: ACAC
He needs to resign as senate majority leader but not just for those reasons.
4 posted on 12/09/2002 12:10:47 PM PST by Chi-townChief
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To: ACAC
Lott said he did not endorse the actions but was giving tribute to the man and his accomplishments
Jesse "the jet" Jackson and Al "that aint my coke" Sharpton demanded Lott resign...
(contributions coming accross their palms have greatly diminished with the repubs in power)
5 posted on 12/09/2002 12:11:15 PM PST by joesnuffy
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To: ACAC
Lott said he did not endorse the actions but was giving tribute to the man and his accomplishments
Jesse "the jet" Jackson and Al "that aint my coke" Sharpton demanded Lott resign...
(contributions coming accross their palms have greatly diminished with the repubs in power)
6 posted on 12/09/2002 12:11:26 PM PST by joesnuffy
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: CenterRight
I missed it. What was funny about what he said?
8 posted on 12/09/2002 12:13:06 PM PST by SerpentDove
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To: EricOKC
Whatever Lott's intention was, it showed incredible lack of judgement, not exactly the kind of thing you want in a Majority Leader.
9 posted on 12/09/2002 12:13:37 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: ACAC
Can you someone explain to me clearly what was said and what it implies?

Thank You
10 posted on 12/09/2002 12:19:21 PM PST by yonif
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To: ACAC
Gee, I wonder how many of these threads we'll have today. Here's some breaking news: Ain't gonna happen....
11 posted on 12/09/2002 12:20:18 PM PST by clintonh8r
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To: ACAC
Robert Byrd, former (?) KKK, can talk about white N__'s, and nobody cares, but when Lott says inane, meaningless platitudes at a 100 year party for an old senator, then people interpret them in the worst light. "Shoulda won that election....yada, yada, yada...." just meaningless dinner remarks, making nice-nice to an old man.

We are wrong, my friends, not to support Lott in this.
12 posted on 12/09/2002 12:20:43 PM PST by xzins
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To: ACAC
By the "logic" of your call for resignation, Lott should also resign from the Senate. I suspect several others on the GOP side from down South should go with him following the same "logic". And those Southrons who fail to condemn the Confederacy and their ancestors who fought in the Civil War, you should read them out of the Republican Party as unfit.

Good luck in 2004.

Regards.

13 posted on 12/09/2002 12:20:46 PM PST by The Irishman
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To: ACAC
Enough is enough.

Damn right.

These Lott threads are all saying the same thing, over and over and over.

You may as well get over this, because Lott is not going to resign!

14 posted on 12/09/2002 12:27:26 PM PST by sinkspur
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To: ACAC
Must be a slow news day. Jackson, Sharton and now ACAC are all making a mountain out of a zit.
15 posted on 12/09/2002 12:32:24 PM PST by Drango
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To: ACAC
Wasn't Strom the first on the Hill to hire a black staffer?
16 posted on 12/09/2002 12:32:33 PM PST by ItisaReligionofPeace
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To: ACAC
Either drop it or go wish on a star. Either way you aren't going to get what you want.
17 posted on 12/09/2002 12:33:21 PM PST by Bikers4Bush
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To: The Irishman
A lot of people seem to want to impose their own version of PC on the Republican Party.
18 posted on 12/09/2002 12:35:27 PM PST by aristeides
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To: xzins
We are wrong, my friends, not to support Lott in this.

Hear, hear! A great rule of thumb is when Jackson/Sharpton think it's an unforgivable offense, stand by your guy!

19 posted on 12/09/2002 12:37:45 PM PST by winin2000
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To: ACAC
No matter what we do to correct this situation, the cat is out of the bag. Trent Lott could resign and go into hiding, and the quote will still be used in campaign commercials across the US in 2004.

I don't think Lott will resign, but he could lose his majority post over this. In the end, it would be embarrassing how it happened, but I wouldn't shed any tears. The Senate needs a new majority leader.
20 posted on 12/09/2002 12:40:34 PM PST by July 4th
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