N.C. Rep. Admits 'Segregationist Feelings' ( provoked by Cynthia McKinney )

ap ^ | 12/20/2002 | ap

[TLBSHOW]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Responding to Sen. Trent Lott (news, bio, voting record)'s recent comments, Rep. Cass Ballenger (news, bio, voting record) told a newspaper he has had "segregationist feelings" himself after conflicts with a black colleague.

Ballenger, a North Carolina Republican, said former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (news, bio, voting record), D-Ga., so provoked him that "I must I admit I had segregationist feelings."

"If I had to listen to her, I probably would have developed a little bit of a segregationist feeling," Ballenger told The Charlotte Observer in Friday's editions. "But I think everybody can look at my life and what I've done and say that's not true. I mean, she was such a bitch."

McKinney, who lost her re-election bid, could not be reached by the Observer Thursday.

Ballenger also told the newspaper some of his constituents might empathize with Lott's remarks, but nonetheless called on Lott to resign as the GOP's Senate leader.

Ballenger's Chief of Staff Dan Gurley, reached at home early Friday by The Associated Press, said Ballenger's comment was "not a general statement of his belief."

"There's no question in my mind that the comment there is not a reflection of his general view, it's only a reaction to the pushiness of somebody like McKinney," Gurley said. "In fact, I've seen him go out of his way to show himself as just the opposite of that."

Lott ignited a firestorm this month after praising Sen. Strom Thurmond (news, bio, voting record)'s 1948 segregationist presidential campaign during a birthday bash for the South Carolina senator.

The Mississippi Republican has apologized and said he believes he has enough support from his colleagues to retain his job and has vowed to fight for it.

Ballenger told the Observer that Lott should "drop out of leadership but stay in the Senate."

Asked if he believes Lott is a segregationist, Ballenger said, "I'd have a hard time saying he wasn't. Basically in some areas of the South, in Charlotte and everywhere else, there are people who get rubbed the wrong way (thinking) `We've got to bend over backwards; we've got to integrate' and things like that."

When told of Ballenger's remarks, Rep. Mel Watt, a black Democrat from Charlotte, said he believed race was not the main motivation for them.

"I suspect that whatever she's doing that's gnawing on him has to do more with what she's saying and how she's saying it than the fact that she's black," he said.

"I doubt it's her blackness that's annoying him, but it's probably that added factor that makes it intolerable to him, in a sense. I wonder if somebody white did and said the same thing that Cynthia McKinney is saying it would even become a part of his discussion."

[TLBSHOW]

This stuff you can't make up or can you? LOL

[over3Owithabrain]

This has got "Onion" written all over it.

[BADROTOFINGER]

If not wanting Cynthia McKinney around makes you a segregationist, then McKinney's district is full of them, just look at her last election. Or was it the J-E-W-S who forced her out? I forget...JFK

[The Great Satan]

Confession time: I sometimes have segregationist feelings when I'm at the movies, and I can't follow the dialogue because black people in the audience keep shouting out advice to the actors on the screen. But mostly I like black people -- honestly, I do.

[TLBSHOW]

btt

[TLBSHOW]

ping

[ambrose]

"..I wonder if somebody white did and said the same thing that Cynthia McKinney is saying it would even become a part of his discussion."

Barbara Boxer. 'Nuff said.

[over3Owithabrain]

I feel segragationist when I pull up at a light and can't hear myself breathe due to the blaring bass and profanity-laced tirade emanating from the low-rider Honda Civic next to me.

Then again, I'm running into that more and more in neighborhoods with white teen "posers"

[Tripleplay]

If all white males in politics convert to the "feelings" culture, the war on terror is lost, and the USA will become another France.

[Terriergal]

I found it interesting that when I was listening to a discussion of this story on the local radio talk shows this morning, they left out... COMPLETELY ... NO mention at all, of some very pertinent qualifiers:

e.g. But I think everybody can look at my life and what I've done and say that's not true.

That being said, to go on and call her a b*tch was unwise.