[BillCompton]

We need to discuss this folks.

[an amused spectator]

Oh, the horror.

I guess only Democrats like the racist Robert Byrd, former KKK guy, are allowed to forget their past, neh?

[William McKinley]

Lott is an idiot. Plain and simple. He is a disgrace and should resign. I am about as partisan as they come, but if I lived in Mississippi, I would vote for his opponent. First in the primary, and then in the general election if need be. And I almost never recommend voting against the Republican in a general election.

[Chi-townChief]

Pretty dumbass comment - it would be nice to have someone a bit more coherent for majority leader.

[Clara Lou]

This was an incredibly stupid remark by an incredibly stupid little man. I don't understand how he got where he is, and I wish that he were long gone-- or a Democrat.

[aristeides]

Yes, this was a stupid comment on Lott's part, but making a big deal of it reinforces the PC limits on expression and makes all of us less free.

[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?

[McGavin999]

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

[Consort]

Republicans eat their own better than Democrats do. The GOP rank and file hasn't yet learned how to deal with success.

[AJFavish]

I didn't like Lott for derailing the full prosecution of Bill Clinton in the Sentate, as documented in David Schippers' book. At the following URL you can e-mail the national Republican leadership to make your opinion known about how much longer Sen. Lott should be Majority Leader, let alone a Senator: http://www.rnc.org/contact/contact.htm.

I sent a message stating the following:

I am a Republican. Either Sen. Lott is a racist or he is too stupid to be Republican Senate Majority Leader or a Senator. Get him out of here now.

[doug from upland]

This is really stupid from Lott, and we didn't need this controversy. It is not, however, the reason which causes me to want him gone from politics however. The stunt for which he should be gone is not having Clinton's victims testify before the United States Senate and on national TV. Testimony from a crying rape victim would have changed the heart of America.

[Plutarch]

When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him.

Well, they should have voted for Dewey. But at least they didn't vote for the Democrat Truman!

[CenterRight]

Here's a link to a one-hour video and audio recording of the C-SPAN broadcast of Thurmond's birthday celebration. It includes Lott's entire speech. I have in on my screen now and I'm reviewing it.

http://www.c-span.org/politics/

The link to the Javascript is at about the center of the C-SPAN page. I'll transcribe the remarks by Lott, preceding his "all these problems" statement. There is no printed transcript on the Internet that I can find, at least not yet.

Feel free to click on the link above, download the 1-hour recording and follow along with me. If you're following along with me, fast-forward to exactly halfway through the recording. That is where Lott's speech starts.

Dole introduced Lott by mentioning that when Strom Thurmond was landing by glider in Normandy on June 6, 1944 Trent Lott was only three years old. http://www.c-span.org/politics/

Verbatim transcript of the beginning of Trent Lott's speech:

Well thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you my good friend and my predecessor, my hero, Bob Dole, for that introduction, that very brief introduction I might add [Laughter] But for Senator Strom Thurmond's family and friends and admirers all, it's a great pleasure for me to be here with you today, and I know that you're enjoying every minute of this. And I knew that the previous remarks would be just as they were. I mean, after all, Bob Dole received the Republican nomination and dang near was elected President of the United States telling Strom Thurmond jokes. [Laughter] If he'd just gotten himself some new material there toward the end he would have done it. [Laughter] I want to say this about my state. When Strom Thurmond ran for President we voted for him. [Laughter] We're proud of it. [More laughter] And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either.

HE WAS JOKING, PEOPLE.

The quotation that has been bandied about as so-called "proof" of Lott's "racism" was clearly told for laughs. It was at the beginning of the speech, after Dole told a few Strom Thurmond jokes. Then Lott stood up and said that in 1996, Dole was nominated for President "and dang near was elected President of the United States telling Strom Thurmond jokes."

Then came the quotation that everyone is bleating about, and it got a few laughs, exactly as Lott had clearly intended. Then came more jokes, including one about how "the Capitol froze over" inserted in place of "hell freezes over," and a reference to Dole's Pepsi commercial with Britney Spears.