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 Lott’s comments at the birthday party. Rush made several comments, including the point that while racism surely persists, it’s 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: you’re 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, doesn’t surprise me. They are democrats, and the ethical bar is set low. But republicans must choose a higher standard, and Trent Lott’s comments make him unsuitable for the job he seeks to reclaim.
I agree.
If we keep Lott as majority leader, the 'rats are going to PUMMEL us with his recorded voice in campaign commercials over video of police dogs at Selma etc.
They will be the most effective ads in the history of politics, and will bring more blacks to the polls to vote 'rat than in any elections in history.
Lott has got to go.
Actually, I believe Thurmond spent more of his political life as a democrat than as a republican. And he did repudiate his segregationist stand.
The statement was rather benign
I agree. But it was also inane. As I've said before, I doubt that Lott's a racist. I think he's incompetent, and his imprudent remarks are just the latest evidence of that. Surely we can find a better standard bearer from among the other 50 GOP senators.
That says more about Pat then it does about Republicans.
Well then, if this caller would turn loose of the racial hatred and bigotry that's motivating him and listen for a minute he might also be "surprised" to discover that Trent Lott isn't a racist either.
This is ridiculous.
I guess if the Jimmy Carter appeasement types in the party had their way then all out leaders would have to step down whenever they said something stupid that Jessie Jackson or Al Gore could contort into a race issue.
You guy's are amazing. Turn your back on one of our own in a vain effort to make peace with professional race baiters like Gore, Sharpton and Jackson.
What's next? Should we pass any and all legislation the dem's want if they publicly claim it's "racist" or "discriminatory" not to?
Why not just have the Progressive black Cacus come into the Senate and point out the "racists" so we can have them all step down?
And what about Thurmond? I mean he actually WAS running on the dixiecrat ticket. Perhaps those who attended his 100th birthday party should ask for their gifts back to show Jessie, Gore and Rev Al that we aren't "racist"
How much else must we do to win them over to our side? What other concessions must we make to prove we aren't all horrible "racists"?
Then again, maybe we could just try telling the truth?
We could tell them that:
Trent Lott made a big mistake. He's not a racist and he has apologized for it. He was embellishing at a birthday party for an old man and he accidentally made reference to an almost forgotten fact from over half a century before. Again, he is sorry for this, admits it and wants to be forgiven.
NAH! That would never work because obviously Trent Lott, the Senate Majority Leader coming out on national television as a proud segregationist is just so much easier for people to believe!
He never said this. Are you putting words in his mouth? Are you a liar?
Exactly right. They both grow the government. And the GOP gets away with it because they have Rush and other pundits propagandizing that it's always everyone elses fault.
"The republicans and the senate can't pass anything substantial because Clinton will just veto it." Well now they have no excuses and the only legislation that is getting signed (by a Republican no less!) is huge spending increases.
I'll tell you what is the most damning.
The 93 Budget impass. Rush harps on what the democrats did to this day. The democrats claimed that the GOP was going to cut social security. The fact was that the GOP was going to grow the budget.
It was clearly a lie by the democrats. The problem is that it should have been true. If the republicans really were the party of small government they should have been shrinking the budget. How Rush could spin it the way he did is proof that he is simply a shill for the republican party. It's not "The Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies" it is "The Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Republican Studies" (L.I.A.R.S)
Get your head out of your raspberries!
To the media, which largely dictates to the uninformed who is whom and what is what, Robert Byrd will never be known as "the ex-Klansman" as long as he is a Democrat! I knew about Thurmond's segregationist stance long before I knew that there was a Democrat who actually has put on a white sheet!
You said it yourself -- the Demos "remain silent" about their racists. So, if someone points that out, what will they do? Play back the tape of Lott's "joke" and say, "Checkmate!"
This is one of those moments when people have to decide what the heck it is they want -- to show that their standards are higher, or to feebly say, "If they can get away with it, we should be able to also."
I disagree. Whether he should represent Mississippi or not is a question for Mississippians. Whether he should represent the rest of the country's republicans as Majority Leader is a question for all republicans.
It's a lie. It's the politics of personal destruction. A totalitarian concept that destroys the concept of free speech. Anyone who suggests that this is a good idea is asking for their political leaders to go even further toward a totalitarian state.
Absolutely. It says he's no coward.
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