Lott's tribute to Thurmond seen as racist

SFGate ^ | Saturday, December 7, 2002 | Thomas B. Edsall

[Michael2001]

Washington -- Senate Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi has provoked criticism by saying the United States would have been better off if then- segregationist candidate Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948.

Speaking Thursday at a 100th birthday party and retirement celebration for Thurmond, the retiring Republican senator from South Carolina, Lott said, "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. "

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

What exactly did Lott say? LOL. I bet you he didn't say a single thing other than that a segragationist was better than a kkk member. Don't forget the wonderful achievements of Truman:

1. The Korean War.
2. The UN.
3. Nuclear proliferation [atoms for peace]

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Here is a link that works:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/12/07/MN176462.DTL

All Lott said is that Thurmond would have been a good president. BFD. Then-president Truman was KKK. And if any current senators need to be looked at, what about KKK Byrd and his 'white ni**er' remarks? Byrd also made a marathon filibuster against a key human rights vote in the 60s. It's just liberal desperation and hypocracy, as usual.

[A.J.Armitage]

Truman had begun the process of joining the KKK years earlier, but backed out. As president, he desegregated the military, pushed for anti-lynching legislation, ect. This is what Thurmond objected to. If Truman was tainted by his earlier positions, Thurmond and a lot of people are even more tainted now. Only an ignoramus (or a liar) would say Truman was a racist president.

I just put some Sinatra on.

[A.J.Armitage]

He was a racist in 1948.

[goldstategop]

He isn't now but he was back then. I have no interest in dredging over this country's ugly past but I felt the need to put in perspective and state I vigorously disagreed with what Trent Lott said.

[A.J.Armitage]

What exactly did Lott say?

"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."

I bet you he didn't say a single thing other than that a segragationist was better than a kkk member.

You've slandered Truman.

And he said, specifically, that the election of Thurmond would have prevented "all these problems over all these years". You know as well as I do what that sounds like. Either Lott meant it that way, in which case he should go, or he didn't, in which case he's an idiot and should still go.

There's no way an honest man could ever interpret Lott's comment as meaning Truman should've lost. There was a Republican candidate, Dewey.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

BS. Truman WAS KKK. The only reason he left was because they didn't like Catholics. Live with it. And Lott was talking about other issues. Face it. You screwed up when you teamed up with Jesse Jackson.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/803283/posts

Turning the Tables!!! KKK Byrd KKK Truman/Clinton Used the N Word? His Brother Did

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

Enjoy your Sinatra music. Glad I can't hear it. Although Truman would have liked it. He had ties to the mob.

[A.J.Armitage]

Have you ever read The Art of Worldly Wisdom? One of the maxims I've remembered from it is, "Never take the wrong side because your opponent already took the right one."

Regardless of what Truman had done earlier in life, he was actively promoting legal equality between the races in 1948. The idiotic spin that he was just as bad as Thurmond is desperation talking. Lott may or may not have been talking about other issues, but it sure sounds like he was talking about race. Either that's exactly what he meant, or his political instincts are so poor he couldn't tell how it was going to sound. Either way, he's unfit to be Majority Leader.

[A.J.Armitage]

Talking as if the choice were between Truman and Thurmond is bizarre, even for spin.

[aristeides]

Lott made a stupid comment, but those who make a big deal of it are just increasing the pressure on the rest of us to obey tyrannical PC speech codes.

[rightwing2]

Anyone who thinks these offhand remarks mean that Lott is a racist is a loon. As someone else said we are the party of Lincoln and civil rights. They were the party of segregation and are still the party of former Senate Majority Leader and Ku Kluks Klansman Sen. Robert Byrd. However, this is a troublesome gaffe for the incoming Senate Majority Leader and one more reason that we should replace him with a more conservative and more articulate spokesman for the Party like Don Nickles or John Kyl.

[Non-Sequitur]

I agree with Gordon Lee Baum.

Of course you do.

[Non-Sequitur]

Anyone who thinks these offhand remarks mean that Lott is a racist is a loon.

Not racist, just stupid.

[Non-Sequitur]

I predict Lott will be replaced within one year.

Nope, he'll hang on. There are plenty of senators who don't want a strong Majority leader. He might try to tell them what to do.

[AppyPappy]

This was clearly an example of people reaching a conclusion based on their own bias. Lott said nothing about segregation.

[Agent Smith]

I am afraid that it is way too late for Chester to clam up and claim wisdom, his incompetence, stupidity, and lily livered "leadership" skills are the only reason that the DemocRats keep him in office.

Yes, I said DemocRats, if Chester was effective in anyway, compromising photos of Lott and his pet goat would have been in the Star long ago.

[Gunrunner2]

Concur

[Bubba_Leroy]

Which U.S. Senator is a former member of the Ku Klux Klan?

Which U.S. Senator wasn't just a member of the KKK but was a "Kleagle" -- an official recruiter who signed up members for $10 a head?

Which U.S. Senator said he joined because it "offered excitement" and because the Klan was an "effective force" in "promoting traditional American values."

Which U.S. Senator wrote the following, three years after he claims to have ended his ties with the KKK: "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia" and "in every state in the Union."

Which U.S. Senator also wrote that he would never fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."

Which U.S. Senator later filibustered the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act -- supported by a majority of those "mean-spirited" Republicans -- for more than 14 hours.

Which U.S. Senator opposed the nominations of the Supreme Court's two black justices, liberal Thurgood Marshall and conservative Clarence Thomas.

Which U.S. Senator recently warned on national television: "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."

I'll give you a hint. It wasn't Strom Thurmond.

[DoughtyOne]

Lott isn't high up on my fan-mail list, believe me. However Lott is not a racist and didn't seek to defend racist policies. I am reminded of a number of idiotic comments the Clintons made over the years, and the downright racial nature of some of them. If Jessie could find it in his mercy to grace them with understanding, I would think he could grant Lott the same. Lott may be 47 cards short of a full deck, but he's no racist or criminal. Now, if we could say the same thing about Jessie, Bill and Hillary.