Replies

So, are you saying that all southerners are racists? Or just the ones that you don't like(confederates)?

Not that my post said anything about Southerners other than Trent, but, what the hell, I'll answer anyway...

NO, not all southerners are racist. Duh. You can put away your strawman now, little Johnny Reb.

And NO, I don't like neo-Confederate nitwits who try to hijack the conservative movement for their own ends. Let me be blunt...the CSA was not a romantic "moonlight and magnolias" Lost Cause in search of "State's Rights" or other such code words...it was a criminal conspiracy against the legitimately elected REPUBLICAN government of the United States. Conservatism in this country will prosper if we can keep the pus-guts like you OUT of the GOP.

"STUNNING: I'm still reeling from watching Trent Lott's bumptious, smug, self-congratulatory self-defense. Leaving aside his noxious past, his sheer inability to convey any genuine remorse is reason alone to justify his removal from his position. His "apology" was formulaic, cheery, rote and unpersuasive. I still don't think he acknowledges the gravity of what he said over a week ago. I don't think he understands the central place of the civil rights movement in the construction of this country's modern existence. I don't think he even faintly fits into a Party of Lincoln. His pugnacious tone, his craven invocation of his working class past as somehow something that innoculates him from criticism, his lack of solemness, his grinning and laughing in the question and answer session indicates to me that he still doesn't get it - and he never will. He asks us to forgive him. That is not the issue. He says he's not a racist: "I'm not about to resign for an accusation for something I'm not." Again, not the issue. I do not know and cannot know what Lott believes in his heart. I do know what he has said and done in the past. This was not a one-off gaffe. It was part of a pattern of consistently voting and speaking as if he did indeed regret desegregation. His statement last week was damaging precisely because it makes more sense of Lott's career in racial matters than any other plausible explanation. As long as he remains Senate Majority Leader for the Republicans, the G.O.P. will therefore have little or no credibility on racial issues - or any other civil rights issues. And they won't deserve to. Ultimately the responsibility for this debacle will lie with the president. His rebuke was welcome. But those who suspect it was window dressing - a means not to be rid of Lott but to give him cover to continue - will be very hard to refute. In my view, this performance has turned a terrible situation for the GOP into a genuine crisis. It reminds every non-partisan supporter of the GOP and many partisan Republicans the truly dark side of conservatism. You can't acquiesce to these people; you can't appease them. Leaving them in power - as spokespeople for a party allegedly trying to be inclusive - is tantamount to endorsing them. Trent Lott must go. Now more than ever." - Andrew Sullivan

"This is about EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN growing a spine and fighting back against absolutely baseless and false allegations from a corrupt group of liberals who can not face the reality of a Republican majority. The stereotype against Republicans will not change until we challenge them, and set the record straight. "

"Now those of you who dislike Lott can ride this issue to Lott's demise. But I for one am not going to let the Democrats continue to foster the completely false stereotype that Republicans are racist."

8 posted on 12/13/2002 3:10 PM PST by rintense