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Trent Lott's Debacle - Now, Bush Must Act
December 14th, 2002 | Sabertooth

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."



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: deadhorsealert; footinmouth
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To: Wait4Truth
*I agree with you 100%.

Yep, now Lott, we got a seat here in the back for you!
461 posted on 12/15/2002 12:15:47 AM PST by jwh_Denver
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To: TLBSHOW
Personally, I'm not even that worked up about racism, per se. It's generally a bad thing, but it's not the worst thing in the world. There's a little bit of racist in everyone. I don't think Trent Lott is a monster racist. I think he's a teeny bit racist. He has a bit of a hankering for the days when Blacks were second-class citizens down South. That's understandable: everybody likes to feel like they're superior to someone else, even if they're mediocrities who don't stand for anything and don't do squat with their lives. I think Trent's not too racist to be Senator for Mississippi. I think he is too racist to be the public face of the Republican Party, a party which has a big "Whites Only" image problem with Blacks, Jews, and educated WASPs, including many who might be less inclined to vote knee jerk Democratic, and some who might gradually drift over to our side, were it not for that problem. So, for the future of the GOP and the future of the country, thinking strategically and long-range, I think it would be a good thing for the party to get a new Senate ML. I also think that Lott is an empty-headed, go-along-get-along appeaser who has done the GOP no favors during his tenure, and this unnecessary ruckus is the last straw. He needs to step aside and let a real conservative take over the show.
462 posted on 12/15/2002 12:19:32 AM PST by The Great Satan
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To: The Great Satan
think he's a teeny bit racist. He has a bit of a hankering for the days when Blacks were second-class citizens down South.

Yeah and with all of the progress blacks are now second class citizens all over the country. Bad argument.

463 posted on 12/15/2002 12:21:52 AM PST by Texasforever
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To: The Great Satan
..a racist, like Lott. ..and deny everything if you're caught off-guard.

"Segregation is a stain on our nation's soul. There is no other way to describe it. It represents one of our lowest moments in our history." "I grew up in an environment that condoned policies and views that we now know were wrong and immoral, and I repudiate them. Segregation and racism are immoral."

These are the words of Senator Lott. There is no confusion in these statements. But for some reason no matter what he says you have it made up in your mind that he's a racist. This is a matter now of you just not believing any word he says rather than him being a racist or not. So I guess if he said "I am a racist!", you would hop on FR and say, "He's lying! He's not a racist!"

There are two groups of people who are attacking him. The first is the crowd calling him a racist. Look who is in that mix... Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc. The other group is the ones who never liked his leadership and have figured that they might as well jump on the bandwagon and start calling for his resignation since this is a chance to bring him down. The Republican Senators agreed to put him back as Majority Leader after the November elections. It's a shame if they change their minds off of last week's statements, and ESPECIALLY after he cleared things up this week.

464 posted on 12/15/2002 12:22:21 AM PST by GOPyouth
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To: The Great Satan
satan you live up to your name with your spew!
465 posted on 12/15/2002 12:25:23 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: Texasforever
Yeah and with all of the progress blacks are now second class citizens all over the country.

But I thought Lott didn't mean it when he said that "we wouldn't be having all these problems" if the Dixiecrats had won? He was just trying to flatter a very old man, and it came out wrong, that's all.

You better keep your spin straight. Otherwise, we might conclude that Lott and his apologists are going in for a bit of the old al-Taqiyah, don't you think?

466 posted on 12/15/2002 12:26:10 AM PST by The Great Satan
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To: GOPyouth
You sound like Jim


Who cares? Mostly you have the "party of personal destruction," led by the socialist black caucus stirring the cauldron. Aided and abetted, of course,

by assorted Lott haters of the right

(of which I admit to being one, but do not join in this lynching).

This is a public hate crime in process.

Jim Robinson

467 posted on 12/15/2002 12:28:44 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: GOPyouth
These are the words of Senator Lott. There is no confusion in these statements.

So which time was he being sincere, and which time was he dissembling? Was it when he was paying tribute to a like-minded friend, or when he was doing his damage control press conference to save his political career? Hmmm, that's a tough one.

468 posted on 12/15/2002 12:28:47 AM PST by The Great Satan
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To: The Great Satan
You better keep your spin straight. Otherwise, we might conclude that Lott and his apologists are going in for a bit of the old al-Taqiyah, don't you think?

You don't have to spin the truth. You do have to spin an innocent sentence into a racist comment though.

469 posted on 12/15/2002 12:28:52 AM PST by Texasforever
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To: Texasforever
What problems wouldn't we be having if the segregationists had won?
470 posted on 12/15/2002 12:30:09 AM PST by The Great Satan
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To: The Great Satan
satan its 10 oclock
471 posted on 12/15/2002 12:31:48 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: TLBSHOW
I wouldn't want to keep you up past your bed time.
472 posted on 12/15/2002 12:32:45 AM PST by The Great Satan
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To: TLBSHOW
Have faith we will win another one against the rats.

Yes we will .. But I sure am and getting sick and tired of their crap ..

473 posted on 12/15/2002 12:33:26 AM PST by Mo1
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To: The Great Satan
sorry I meant its 10 oclock and time for a cartoon from satan


474 posted on 12/15/2002 12:35:05 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: The Great Satan
What problems wouldn't we be having if the segregationists had won?

Nice try but no cigar. I never try to prove a negative. We do have a record spanning 50 years and 6 trillion dollars spent on righting past wrongs, legislation out the wazoo to improve the lives of blacks in his country and the result is that blacks are still at the bottom level of every social metric you can use. Now how do you defend that?

475 posted on 12/15/2002 12:36:41 AM PST by Texasforever
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To: Mo1
It goes on and on! Now we have Satan along. LOL
476 posted on 12/15/2002 12:36:42 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: Texasforever
Because of the democrats blacks are kept down. Must be the works of Satan and evil!
477 posted on 12/15/2002 12:39:09 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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Comment #478 Removed by Moderator

Comment #479 Removed by Moderator

To: TLBSHOW
LOL .. and this is where I say Good Night Gracie

Sweet Dreams
480 posted on 12/15/2002 12:47:17 AM PST by Mo1
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