Posted on 12/14/2002 10:47:02 AM PST by Sabertooth
Once again, in his own indelible words, the Republicans' Senate Majority Leader-elect:
"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."
~Trent Lott - December, 2002
When Strom Thurmond ran for President, he was a segregationist Dixiecrat spurred into revolt against the Democrats by Hubert Humphrey's Civil Rights plank in the '48 Democratic Party platform. Mississippi was one of four segregationist Southern States that voted for Thurmond. Segregation was the purpose and limited appeal of the Dixiecrats. It was the banner under which they marched.
The plainest sense of Lott's words are that he approves of the above.
Even though I don't believe that's what Lott meant, nor that he's a racist, that fact is inescapable. It takes backpedaling and damage control to escape the plain meaning of what Lott said and explain what's really in his heart. It's disingenuous to suggest otherwise.
The only way to for Trent Lott to address Thurmond's '48 campaign would have been to chart how far the retiring senior Senator from South Carolina has traveled in the last 54 years, and to use him as a metaphor to further illustrate how far the South and America have come. Had he done this, Lott could have simultaneously honored the Centenarian Senator and reiterated that Republicans, like the South and like America, have learned the errors of racism and segregation, and have long since embarked on a better path.
That Lott could not grasp this after decades in Washington is striking, particularly since this isn't the first time he's failed to navigate this reef. Speaking after a Thurmond speech for Ronald Reagan in 1980, then-Congressman Lott told the crowd: ""You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today."
Now, the Democrats are all over the opportunity Lott has injudiciously provided to them. That it seems unfair is irrelevant. He left himself open for the sucker punch and got pounded. He's only made matters worse with his tepid series of apologies: too little, too Lott. He is finished as a Senate Majority Leader of even mediocre effectiveness. It's time to cut our losses.
President Bush needs to invite Lott to the ranch in Crawford, and offer him a more artful and diplomatic rendering of the following:
"Senator, with your ill-advised remarks you've brought turmoil and embarrassment on yourself, the party, and the country. You've served all well in the past and I thank you for that service from the bottom of my heart. Unfortunately, the events of the past few weeks call for a reassessment of the nature of your future service. The horses have left the barn, but there does remain an open path for you, a path that is both honorable and humbling: step aside as Majority Leader and continue to serve in the Senate.
I understand the sacrifice my request places on you, and sympathize with it's burden, but our nation and our agenda are in peril.
I need you, and I'm asking you as you President to do this for the good of America."
I wouldn't call it a negative view .. IMO it is a realistic view
The fact is, yes we have been attacked and accused before .. but this time it's my thinking also, the left will really go on the attack with the racist issue and one by one go after the Republicans
Personally I think Lott will end up leaving mainly because these attacks are not going to go away and also because .. well everyone pretty much agrees he is a failure as ML
The bottom line is .. we are going to have to prepare ourselves as a party to what the futre brings
The hell they aren't
they OWN the race issue. Lott will step down and the next conservative put on the alter will suffer the same fate be it Race or one of the other sundry victim groups that control the domestic agenda of this country.
The shame of it is that whoever replaces Lott will be no more effective than he is. That is the political reality in this country. The group identity minefield is too pervasive for anything other than a holding action and then the poor slob will be accused of selling out.
Eva, they are not being "used" their eyes are wide open. Every major domestic program passed in the last 50 years have been targeted straight at them. People vote their self-interests and when it comes to blacks, their self-interests lay clearly with the democrats. This has nothing at all to do with racism except as a tool to fight avoid questioning the efficacy of the Great Society and its progeny.
What if I was a racist?
No. I'd deny being a racist and tell my underlings to get the word out that I might bring the house down if my colleagues tried to force me out.
Oh I don't know about that .. Lott was pretty bad .. I don't hold anything against him over the Clinton thing .. BUT that power sharing with Dashole .. sorry but that was REALLY bad
If Lott is replaced .. I am sure whoever replaces him, will not make everyone happy .. there will always be someone that is ticked off .. But I agree the Left will go on the attack and tried to label that person a racist also
I have said many times before .. I don't think Lott is a racist ... However, I won't shed any tears whenever he finally does leave
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