Blurted Out Conviction of the Week: Trent Lott (Legs Folks)

Slate ^ | Friday, December 6, 2002, at 1:54 PM PT | Timothy Noah

[BillCompton]

chatterbox
Blurted Out Conviction of the Week: Trent Lott
What's a little segregationism among friends?
By Timothy Noah
Posted Friday, December 6, 2002, at 1:54 PM PT

"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 of followed our lead we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

—Trent Lott at Strom Thurmond's 100^th birthday party, as reported Dec. 6 in ABC News' political Weblog, The Note. To watch a video of the festivities, click here.

"I want to tell you, ladies and gentleman, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches."

 —Strom Thurmond, then-governor of  South Carolina, in a speech from his 1948 "Dixiecrat" presidential campaign. To hear an audio clip, click here.
Article URL: http://slate.msn.com/?id=2075151

[cynicom]

Ole Bill...

What you say here is what you are. If the truth from Vacant Lott bothers you so much, perhaps the dems would welcome you with open arms, a lost brethern.

[Clara Lou]

making a big deal of it reinforces the PC limits on expression and makes all of us less free.
No, what "making a big deal of it" reinforces is the fact that Lott has been a poor leader, too often putting his foot in his mouth. He's just not reliable or intelligent. Pointing out his stupidity does not make us "less free." This has nothing to do with "PC."

[William McKinley]

What truth is it that you find in Lott's talk? That the nation would be better off with segregationalism? If so, I find that view repugnant and irreconcilable with the views of liberty that I believe in conserving.

[snooker]

Well one point you need to understand ... Thurmond was a DEMOCRAT when he said these things. The southern racists and the bigots were all DEMOCRATSs, remember Gov. George Wallace ? another fine democrat.

It was after Thurmond became a Republican was he swayed to the other side.

Abraham Lincoln was the one who freed the slaves. He is also the FOUNDER OF THE __REPUBLICAN__ PARTY. The KKK was based in the DEMO party. Been there, saw it first hand. The KK would send people around asking the whites if they were going to vote for Democrats. Answer NO you got a message, so the smart always answeder 'sure', then did whatever they wanted when in the booth, after making sure you were alone.

History never was a strong suit of the DUMPos, that is why they want to re-write it every chance they get. Erase their own past on the way.

snooker

If this new keyboard doesn't stop mis-spelling words, I am going to throw it out ... can't even write M$ ... penguins forever.

[BillCompton]

meant for ole Bill McKinley

Yes, sorry for not seeing that. I am _completely_ self-absorbed.

is a socialist in drag

Oh Jeez! I didn't know you guys could see me! Eeek! I have to go change...

[Clara Lou]

Most of pub conservatives were once democrats
...and so? [Even if your comment were accurate.]

[BillCompton]

This isn't about Robert Byrd or Strom Thurmond!

[LO_IQ]

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We're proud of it.

Up to here, it comes across as a self-deprecating joke, and the audience laughs throughout Lott's delivery.

And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

Lotts seems to be serious about this, and the audience becomes eerily quiet.

Lott inserted his big foot inside his dumb mouth, and everyone present knows it.

Good riddance!

[Flint]

I think I'll wait until I can see the whole context of what was said. I have a feeling that there may be more to the conversation than the one sentance that is quoted here.

[B Knotts]

Oh, please. Is it such a crime to please an old man on his 100th birthday?

Do you really believe that Trent Lott is a segregationist, or can you recognize a partisan cheap shot from the Slate when you see it?

[cynicom]

Ole Bill...

Firstly Vacant Lott is a waste, a former democrat.

Secondly, you pick out one part of his stupid remarks to cast the entire utterance in evil. Reality is a harsh teacher Bill, we do have "the southern mentality leading this country whether you like it or not".

The Kennedys hated Jews, so do the Clintons, Hillary had nice language to fit them, yet there was not a ripple. I suspect if not a closet socialist, you do not accept reality.

[McGavin999]

Oh please! Strom Thurmond ended up being a great supporter of the black community and he has many, many supporters there.

[William McKinley]

It did not come across that way to me. But let's for a minute stipulate that you are correct- it was just humoring the old man on his 100th birthday.

If that is the case then it was a blindingly stupid thing to say. It is handing your political opponents a club to beat you and your party over the head with.

Frankly, if he said it not meaning it, he is amazingly negligent with the limelight he has been entrusted by his party, and this coupled with his poor performance as Majority Leader should be more than sufficient to bring his ouster.

And if he said it meaning it, which is how it comes across to me, then it is even worse.

[cynicom]

So?????

So, then throw out all the former democrats in the republican party and what have you got?????

What would be left?????

[LO_IQ]

I think I'll wait until I can see the whole context of what was said

The link to the C-SPAN video is provided by the initial poster toward the bottom of the article.

Drag the Real Player "buttton" to the center of the Play bar to catch the beginning of Lott's speech.

[William McKinley]

When you learn coherence, get back to me. I am not sure what your tangent about Jews and about the Kennedys is all about or how it fits in with this story about Lott.

And I am not sure why you are attacking me for going after a guy you yourself call vacant Lott. Perhaps you are going after me because I am going after bigotry? I really don't care to find out.

What is this southern mentality you speak of, cynicom, leading the country? How does it fit in with Bush's agenda? Or that of Cheney? Or of other Senate leadership such as Frist and Santorum? Or of the House leadership?

[BillCompton]

History never was a strong suit of the DUMPos, that is why they want to re-write it every chance they get.

You may not be re-writing history, because what you wrote is true...as far as it goes. The problem is that you ignore the part when Republicans perminantly lost the black vote. It is ironic that you are accusing the democrats of doing what you are doing. Goldwater Republicanism placed republicans squarely on the wrong side of the civil rights issues. It was stupid. He (Goldwater) was trying to win white southern votes, which he did not do. But he did accomplish perminantly alienating the black vote. Things would have come along much faster for Republicans had Goldwater been on the other side of this issue. We have been playing catch-up ever since.

[Walkin Man]

Gee, I thought I stumbled onto the DU by accident this morning when I clicked on FR and saw all these attack treads against Lott. So Lott said something that wasn't exactly PC, da*n that never happens! Let’s round up the PC posse and string him up! I bet they are getting a big laugh over on the DU about this!

[William McKinley]

I agree with you. And what is really annoying about this is that Goldwater was for most of the Civil Rights movement. He had objections with some of the implementation components of the Act of 1964, and he voted against it while the Republicans were voting for it. And then Goldwater compounded this by trying to be fuzzy on the issue for the very reason you said (this is my opinion of why, not a fact I can substantiate).

At one time MLK considered Goldwater an ally. But after Goldwater's presidential campaign, we Republicans were reduced to getting single digit support from blacks, and we still are stuck there.

[cynicom]

Ole Bill....

Son you babble on to such extremes. You are making a mountain out of a molehill for Vacant Lott.

Power is patched together out of strange bedfellows. Lott happens to be a real strange one, yet you want to throw him to the wolves. Do you see your friends in the dem party throwing out Ole Bobby Byrd??? Course not. Now try to equate that to what you want to do to poor ole Lott.

Wars are not fought by all heros and straight arrows, there are a lot of misfits in there, cowards, thieves and what have you. Political ranks are the same.