LOTT SAID IT BEFORE (Drudge Siren)

Drudge ^ | 12/10/02 | Drudge

[walrus954]

After a fiery speech by Thurmond at a Mississippi campaign rally for Ronald Reagan in November 1980, Lott, then a congressman, told a crowd in Jackson: "You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today."

More to follow...

[GOPJ]

Lott's lame apology wasn't good enough. This new information makes his excuse even worse. If Lott can't come up with a more heartfelt and sensitive apology he needs to step down as Majority Leader.... And yes, I know we're not as bad as the democrats with their former Kkue Klux Klan Byrd, or former racist Hollings, but we have higher standards to uphold than democrats.

[Moose4]

(Was Thurmond a Democrat or Republican before he ran as a Dixiecrat?)

Thurmond was a Democrat when he ran for and won state offices in South Carolina--this was effectively a one-party state for a hundred years following Reconstruction (nah, we don't hold grudges, really we don't). He bolted to the States' Rights Democrat Party in 1948, then was elected to the Senate via write-in as a Democrat in 1954 when the Democratic SC political machine appointed another candidate to replace their primary pick (who died), rather than run another primary.

I believe Strom switched parties to the R's in 1964 to help with Barry Goldwater's campaign. He and LBJ never got along well. Thurmond was one of the first conservative yellow dog Democrats to bolt to the GOP and begin the power shift that has made the R's dominant in the South today.

[Mo1]

Bill Clinton is probably laughing his arse off because he knows he could of spun this out of the headlines with the complete backing of the mainstream media.

I would not be surprised if Clinton gave Jesse a call about this

This was a non-story until Russert received a message and made a comment on his show

[Weimdog]

Rewind to Summer '02 -

From The Other White Meat To The Other White Sheet

Along with his penchant for pork spending, Byrd has also gotten attention in the past overall for civil rights issues and race relations - especially in the spring of 2001 when he made a rare appearance on a weekend show (Fox News Sunday) only to find himself under fire for having casually dropped the term "white niggers" during his appearance. 

"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..." said Byrd in his remarks on Fox News Sunday. Of course, during that same appearance Byrd recalled how his mother had once told him "you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody." 

The remarks predictably generated a quick firestorm of controversy - or at least they did for a couple of weeks. At the end of the day, Byrd was basically shielded by the capital "D" (for Democrat, of course) next to his name, and possibly to a lesser extent, his age. Republicans were quick to point out that if one of their own had made a similar transgression or even committed some lesser offense, they would have been swamped with angry calls for resignation and harsh criticism from Democratic civil rights activists. 

One reason Byrd's comments didn't generate much of a long-term backlash was that his background as a member of the KKK was already fairly well known and something he has apologized for in the past. In fact, one detail that critics often cite is that instead of just being a casual member, Byrd was a "Kleagle" who got $10 a head for recruiting new members.


And let us not forget, Lincoln was a Republican!

[Poohbah]

If the Republicans can't keep a "racist, segregationist" in the Majority Leader role, what makes you think Sheila Jackson Lee, Elijah Cummings, and the Amen Chorus at Free Republic will allow him to stay as a measly Senator from Mississippi?

The Senator and his constituents are going to have to have a long talk in 2006.

Based on your "principle," he will have to quit altogether, which will put us one Lincoln Chaffee away from the minority again.

Sorry, I do not agree.

I part company strongly with you on this, Poohbah. You really haven't thought this through. But, you're in good company, as Free Republic has turned into a pit of Maniacal Madness over the last 48 hours.

As long as Lott is in leadership, any partisan filibuster has a figleaf of principle to cover it. I don't want that.

Wave some red meat in front of FReepers who are nursing grudges, and they react like mad dogs.

I've carried the water for Trent Lott for a long time, and this is how the jerkoff repays me.

Sorry, sinkspur. IMNHO, the man has got to go.

[kcvl]

Sausalito is a ritzy, suburb of San Francisco and Marin County most recently made headlines as the home of American Taliban John Walker Lindh.

According to the Marin (California) Times, Alex Sanders appeared at the ‘Taj Mahal’ houseboat of John Luongo to charm about 30 influential Democratic donors “eager to make a suggested donation of $10,000 apiece” to Sanders campaign.

At the event, Luongo called South Carolina’s senior Senator, “a political troglodyte.”

According to dictionary.com, troglodyte is, “a member of a fabulous or prehistoric race of people that lived in caves, dens or holes.” It also means, “a person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish.”

[Poohbah]

Getting Lott out of the Majority leader chair would be a net plus for the Republicans but he must keep his seat.

Add two words to the end of that sentence: "for now."

If I were a Mississippi voter, I would think that I was owed a substantive discussion in 2006 as to why the man should stay in office.

[Tailgunner Joe]

[OldFriend]

The dems would rather have Lott too.....but no doubt the blacks are leaning on Daschole big time.

[Mo1]

Isnt that enough? Why should he be leader under your own description of the man?

He is the leader because the Senate voted him to be .. I don't have a vote there

We can pin many things on Lott .. but he isn't a racist ..

[LizJ]

I don't think he is a racist either. But a spineless idiot, who has not sufficiently explained himself, should not be the leader of the Senate IMO. He is a distraction and should let someone else lead the Senate.

[Poohbah]

If he isn't a racist, then he's just really stupid on the subject of race, and that's just about as bad.

[Darling Lili]

... what makes you think Sheila Jackson Lee, Elijah Cummings, and the Amen Chorus at Free Republic will allow him to stay as a measly Senator from Mississippi?

"Allow him to stay as a Senator?"

Good Lord... Jackson Lee and Cummings aren't even Senators themselves. Don't you think you're over-dramatizing just a bit?

[BuddhaBoy]

"we have higher standards to uphold than democrats"

That is it in a nutshell. Should Republicans let this go, just because Democrats would? If so, then they are no better and no one will forget it the next time they go after a Democrat for anything.

This is a gut-check time for the Party. If Lott would resign his seat over losing the leadership role, then he was never a loyal Pubbie to begin with.

[Notwithstanding]

Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, the Democrat elected posthumously in 2000 A.D. to the Senate, whose seat has been temporarily filled by Democrat senatrix Jean Carnahan.

Source: Washington Post

[kcvl]

These political character assassins have already turned their attack dogs on Pickering's politics, but more recently they've pulled out one of their dirtiest yet most reliable tricks - the race card. They are trying to brand Pickering, a Mississippian, as an old school Jim Crow era racist, and in doing so they are grasping at every straw that comes along. The Dems have dragged out everything they can find on Judge Pickering to tarnish his reputation and attempt to associate him with racists.

Senator Fritz Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat known for his Foghorn-Leghorn style speech mannerisms and his uncanny habit of using racial slurs against minorities. Senator Hollings is also the governor who placed the Confederate battle flag on the South Carolina Statehouse in the 1960's (remarkably Hollings avoided practically all scrutiny for this act when the media and the left were blasting George W. Bush for simply stating that the flag was an issue for the people of South Carolina to decide). His racial slurs on the public record include derogatory racial remarks about Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, and even African diplomats, most of them unfit for reprinting here.

The second Senator is none other than the man the Dems call the "conscience of the Senate," their ex-majority leader Robert Byrd, D-WV. Though we rarely ever hear about it, Byrd actually served as an officer in the Ku Klux Klan during the early days of his political career. As he rose to higher political offices and eventually the U.S. Senate, Byrd attempted to distance himself from this dubious affiliation.

Yet a letter by Byrd emerged, dated three years after he claims to have permanently ended his affiliation with the KKK, in which he writes "The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia." Byrd was also the Democrat Senator speaking on the floor of the Senate in filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act when Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen realized he had gathered enough votes to invoke cloture and pass the legislation over Democrat objections from Byrd, Albert Gore Sr., and 19 other Democrat Senators who opposed the bill. Byrd's disgusting racist kick is apparently still in him, as he used a vicious racial slur on national television less than a year ago.

[Sweet Hour of Prayer]

Actually, all this Lott hysteria needs to be lumped under the "MEDIA BIAS" category. The media is looking for something to be offended about with Republicans... Lott unintentionally, gave them something they could contort. I wonder why Gore, Sharpton and Jackson had nothing to say about Clinton's speech honoring Fulbright, not so long ago. Could it be that the Media is BIASED? They were seeking an angle on Lott to discredit him and conversely, they were/are seeking an angle on Clinton to honor him. This is just ANOTHER MEDIA BIAS example.

[MattinNJ]

What makes you think Lott will be willing to stay in his seat after he loses the leadership? He will not. You're talking about giving Daschle leadership of the Senate again.

If he kept his seat we would still control the Senate 51-49. I don't think he would resign. I'm sure his buddies would give him some plum assignment. Does Mississippi have a Republican Governor? If so, and Lott resigns, I'm sure the Governor would replace him with a Republican Senator.

The thing that really pisses me off is the double standard. Byrd is a former KKK member and dropped the "N" bomb in March 2001-not a peep from anyone.

[AmericaUnited]

Everything and anything I have to say about Lott will be "Removed by the Moderator".

[Darling Lili]

Very well said!