Trent Lott should resign as Majority Leader.

vanity | 12-9-02 | Adam Case

[ACAC]

AC

[CenterRight]

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.

[Chi-townChief]

He needs to resign as senate majority leader but not just for those reasons.

[joesnuffy]

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)

[joesnuffy]

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)

[SerpentDove]

I missed it. What was funny about what he said?

[dfwgator]

Whatever Lott's intention was, it showed incredible lack of judgement, not exactly the kind of thing you want in a Majority Leader.

[yonif]

Can you someone explain to me clearly what was said and what it implies?

Thank You

[clintonh8r]

Gee, I wonder how many of these threads we'll have today. Here's some breaking news: Ain't gonna happen....

[xzins]

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.

[The Irishman]

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.

[sinkspur]

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!

[Drango]

Must be a slow news day. Jackson, Sharton and now ACAC are all making a mountain out of a zit.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Wasn't Strom the first on the Hill to hire a black staffer?

[Bikers4Bush]

Either drop it or go wish on a star. Either way you aren't going to get what you want.

[aristeides]

A lot of people seem to want to impose their own version of PC on the Republican Party.

[winin2000]

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!

[July 4th]

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.