That being said, I'm starting to question some of Lott's views myself on race. I didn't realize he had been tied to the Council of Conservative Citizens
In his speech, Lott, according to the newsletter, called the Citizen Informer, warns against the forces supporting government spending: "We need more meetings like this across the nation" to offset these liberal pressures. "The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the beneficiaries."After the Informer article became available, Lott's spokesman disassociated Lott from the CCC and sharply criticized the organization: "This group harbors views which Senator Lott firmly rejects. He has absolutely no involvement with them either now or in the future," John Czwartacki said this week.
He defended Lott's 1992 keynote speech to the CCC at a Greenwood, Miss., meeting, arguing: "This appears to have been a widely attended political gathering with the senator giving what sounds like generic stump speech remarks . . . With their votes, contributions or time, tens of thousands of people endorse Trent Lott's views. That endorsement does not necessarily go the other way around."
Thomas B. Edsall,"Lott Renounces White `Racialist' Group He Praised In 1992", The Washington Post, 16 Dec 1998