Posted on 12/10/2002 5:35:47 PM PST by xlib
Today on Rush a black air traffic controller was expressing his outrage over Trent Lotts comments at the birthday party. Rush made several comments, including the point that while racism surely persists, its much less common than it once was, that everybody has obstacles, some hurdles are greater than others etc. The caller was surprised to discover that RUSH LIMBAUGH IS NOT A RACIST!
This is the dilemma conservatives face: although many, if not most, conservative policy ideas would benefit the poor and minorities if implemented, conservatives are widely assumed to be indifferent or hostile to the poor and minorities.
There are some parallels between our dilemma and that of African Americans. During segregation, the trailblazers were exceptional people; Jackie Robinson was one of the best ever to play the game, the first black students at the University of Alabama were all honor students. But millions of ignorant rednecks just saw dumb, uppity niggers. These folks endured the abuse, and persevered, because they were conscious of something larger than themselves that they represented.
We too are subject to the false assumptions of ignorant people; these assumptions are often amplified in popular culture and the media, and it limits what we can accomplish. We have two choices: we can whine about liberal media bias, the double standard for liberals and conservatives caught in ethical lapses, etc etc, or we can heed the advice given to Condi Rice by her parents: youre going to have to work twice as hard, and hold yourself to a higher standard, than those who oppose you.
I was never prouder to be a republican during the impeachment than when Bob Livingston announced his resignation on the house floor. He had the guts to choose a higher standard, and the grace to accept his fate for falling short of it. The fact that Bill Clinton can debase the oval office and then try to portray a 21-year-old intern as a stalker, or that Jesse Jackson can yap about Hymietown, or that Robert Byrd can ramble on about white niggers, and survive politically, doesnt surprise me. They are democrats, and the ethical bar is set low. But republicans must choose a higher standard, and Trent Lotts comments make him unsuitable for the job he seeks to reclaim.
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.
This would be a great strategic move.
A principled move would be to also evict Strom Thurmond.
The real guilt of racism is Thurmond's and not Lott's. Anybody asking for Thurmond to resign? This whole mess is schizoid: Thurmond is the one who engaged in the racism, and yet no one is focusing upon him. Lott says Thurmond is a good guy and ---blam!--Lott is the bad guy because he flattered a racist. The racist goes off unchallenged, but Lott is raked over the coals. I want Lott out because of his spineless, RINO behavior. But to charge Lott with racism and to allow Thurmond go unscathed makes no logical sense at all!
Neither will resign, because this flap is all bluster and no substance.
Agreed.
He could start with forced busing and forced integration that has failed miserably at the cost of billions of dollars. Such forced integration has never worked and never will as witnessed by the differences in schools in the urban and suburban areas where "natural segregation" has resulted in continuing white flight, which doesn't help the blacks at all.
He could have also said that forced integration has lead to more strife and segregation between the races than ever before.
You're right, he should have and could have said more. But then again, he would have been villified for telling the truth.
Get real. Thurmond launched a third-party run in 1948 for one reason and one reason alone.
I'll be charitable, and assume that Vacant Lott was simply too dumb to apply the correct activation sequence (1: Brain, 2: Mouth). If so, this jabbering does not show Lott to be a racist person, but the comment itself is still a racist statement.
Excellent point!
To remove him after those whiners cry out is to say that they have more morality than the Republicans have. If the GOP remove Lott, they will be playing into the whiners' hands.
Let this blow over for a year and then remove him for his lack of leadership skills, not for an alleged racist remark.
Well, duh. The last thing Tiny Tom wants is for the opposition to install a real leader.
He ran on an anti-government platform, not a racist platform. He opposed the intervention of the federal government in the affairs of the states. He was only being true to his Southern heritage in doing so.
To wish to live with people of similar beliefs and goals is not racist; it's natural (i.e., "Birds of a feather..."). Racism is the taking of action against someone based upon their race.
Forced integration, on the other hand, is not natural and is in direct opposition to the Constitution as well as natural law.
Whoa...who said anything about "giving up control of the Senate"? Lott should lose his job as Majority Leader. No less than that should happen, IMHO. If he becomes just Senator Lott and not Senate Majority Leader Lott, the count doesn't change. Check your civics textbooks, pal!
I'm glad Lott said what he said, he just beat the reparations crowd to the punch.
What nonsense. This has nothing to do with reparations -- it's a totally separate argument. If anything, this won't do anything but fire up the reparations boosters!
He said it before in the 80's . So what, big deal. Let the hypocris cut their throats first.
You don't know the actual issues before you decide which side you're on! When I first started answering you, I thought you were just misguided. Now, I know you're totally ignorant regarding politics altogether.
Thurmond's saving grace among people who didn't think much of him was that he has renounced his racist actions of half a century ago. Now, the top GOP Senator in the twenty-first century is saying a segregationist should have been President fourteen years before the Civil Rights Act!
"So what, big deal"? Anyone who says "So what, big deal" about what Lott said is too dumb to vote!
Because, by making this stupid comment, or joke, or whatever you want to call it, he has demonstrated once again that he lacks the political skills needed to be the GOP's point man in the Senate.
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