Posted on 12/11/2002 8:17:36 PM PST by winin2000
The crux of the onslaught against Trent Lott would seem to be, "How can you argue the U.S. would have been better off electing a segregationist?" Well, it only makes sense to examine that question in the context of both history and, more to the point, what his opponent had to offer.
It is easy to lose sight of just how far the pendulum has swung on what is deemed respectable opinion on matters of race. Not too many years ago, the political spectrum in toto was, by today's standards shockingly "racist." And elected officials, who are now idols of the left, were no exceptions. And I'm not simply talking about the abundant Southern Democrats who were segregationists; there's much more.
Woodrow Wilson, for example, was a dogmatic, practicing white supremacist, enforcing segregated office during his tenure as president of Princeton University and while in the White House. An often forgotten gem of his on the subject of immigration:
“I stand for the national policy of exclusion. . . . We cannot make a homogeneous population of a people who do not blend with the Caucasian race. . . . Oriental coolieism will give us another race problem to solve and surely we have had our lesson.”
I must have missed the news account of Rainbow/Push's protest march in front of Wilson's Presidential Library and think tank.
Too far back you say? Okay, fast forward a few years. Who could possibly have said something as repugnant as:
Californians have properly objected (to Japanese immigration) on the sound basic ground ... that the mingling of Asiatic blood with European or American blood produces, in nine cases out of ten, the most unfortunate results."
Nobody important. Only FDR.
Still not recent enough to the period in question? Okay, let's deal with the gentleman whom Senator, then Governor, Thurmond waged his rebellious campaign against in the first place. The man who is hailed as a visionary for his breaking down the color wall in the military. So happens Mr. Harry Truman wrote in private correspondence:
“I am strongly of the opinion Negroes ought to be in Africa, yellow men in Asia and white men in Europe and America.”
And for good measure, he wrote to his daughter that the White House kitchen staff was an "army of coons."
And lest you retort that these examples are not analagous, consider again the specific complaint against Lott. Although none of the Democrat vultures pecking at his carcass will make the straightforward accusation that he is a racist, they wax indignant about the propreity of having in high leadership someone who arguably thinks - who THINKS - America would have been better off under a President Thurmond. Some thoughts, however latent, are just too ugly to tolerate; whether they manifest themselves or not.
Now, that being the case, how can you seriously argue that these examples of rank, personal racism among liberal icons is irrelevant because they were sound on matters of policy. Truman's candid contempt for blacks is fine and dandy because, see, he got the ball rolling on integration. Yet Lott, whom no one can credibly accuse of attempting a recission of any of the substantive "civil rights" laws, is unfit to serve because he might have some deep-seated respect for the segregated society in which he was brought up.
Well, sorry folks, I ain't biting. The opportunism displayed on this forum these past few days is contemptible. From absolutist righties nursing impeachment grudges to self-righteous Yankees who see the Southern GOP base as some kind of albatross politically, most, if not all, calling for Lott's head have ulterior motives. I don't once recall seeing on Free Republic this kind of vitriol on the question of race and the Old South directed at Jesse Helms. And put your whitewash away, my friends; I love the man dearly, too. But the man who was elected to the Senate as commentator on a North Carolina newscast regularly attacking the civil rights revolution never formally repudiated his views on race. He simply stopped talking about it.
Why is Helms fit for Rushmore, yet Lott's sin is unforgivable?
Well, I for one will not let mortal fear of what kind of campaign ad will be run against us two years hence drive me to throw an innocent man to the wolves, giving craven idiots like Al Gore and professional anti-white demagogues like the Black Caucus yet another Republican scalp to hang on their wall.
I hope I've convinced a few folks to join me.
Pretty much. If we kicked out all of the segregationists, we'd lose control of Congress. But if they speak up, they should be whacked right back down.
I hope everybody likes that soundbite. Because we can "explain" till we're blue in the face, but if we keep defending Lott, we're gonna be hearing it for a lonnnnnnnnnng time.
I say it's not worth losing the whole Republican agenda over him, no matter what other high-minded motives we might have.
Lott expresses regret for remarks; court filing from 1981 surfaces
Can any politician survive this?
From Associated Press (EXCERPT):
"Senate Republican leader Trent Lott tried to help Bob Jones University keep its federal tax-exempt status despite the school's policy prohibiting interracial dating two decades before his recent comments stirred a race controversy.
"Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy," Lott, then a congressman from Mississippi, wrote in a 1981 friend of the court brief that unsuccessfully urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Internal Revenue Service from stripping the university's tax exemption.
IMHO, SD
Lest you think you're about to burn your hands on that "smoking gun," it might interest you to know that this case had the support of ... the Reagan administration.
Aww, what the hell, let's throw the Gipper overboard while we're at it!
I hope everybody likes that soundbite. Because we can "explain" till we're blue in the face, but if we keep defending Lott, we're gonna be hearing it for a lonnnnnnnnnng time.
I say it's not worth losing the whole Republican agenda over him, no matter what other high-minded motives we might have.
Lott expresses regret for remarks; court filing from 1981 surfaces
Can any politician survive this?
From Associated Press (EXCERPT):
"Senate Republican leader Trent Lott tried to help Bob Jones University keep its federal tax-exempt status despite the school's policy prohibiting interracial dating two decades before his recent comments stirred a race controversy.
"Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy," Lott, then a congressman from Mississippi, wrote in a 1981 friend of the court brief that unsuccessfully urged the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the Internal Revenue Service from stripping the university's tax exemption.
IMHO, SD
Why don't we merely dredge up your past life -- I'm sure we can find some idiotic statement or deed that would make you cringe, OR worse yet -- define you as THAT person today.
Well, it doesn't look like Lott's significantly changed from 1981 to the present.
Why don't we merely dredge up your past life -- I'm sure we can find some idiotic statement or deed that would make you cringe, OR worse yet -- define you as THAT person today.
Too late. Lott already did it for you.
There's more to it than that. We're talking about segregated schools, poll taxes, and lyching.
You do have a point though. A person ought to able to serve who they want to serve. But that's not the platform Thurmond ran on. He thought segregation was just marvelous.
We are also talking about 6 trillion bucks spent on 13% of the population since 1965 and that population is STILL segregated, undereducated and the poorest group in the country. There has to come a point when the simple question of "why?" is asked of that group and "why do they vote 97% democrat”?
I have never liked Trent Lott....but it would be really nice to have him stand up and say this...or something like it.
C'mon Trent...show some BACKBONE.
What Trent Lott said was just a few nice words to someone who has turned 100 years old...Sheesh!!!!
redrock
As things turned out liberals had nothing to gain from integration. So blacks were told "Never mind the issues of intoxication, infedelity, lawlesness, and disrespect for education. All you're problems are caused by whitey. These things are your culture, they define blackness. Any white person who tells you different is a racist. And any black person who tells you different is a race traitor."
This ideaology has had devestating effects on the entire nation and has warped our political dialouge for several decades.
But it doesn't aquit segregationists of anything. In fact they enabled it. They fostered the creation of a disposessed culture within their own borders.
Rod Serling will be popping out of the woodwork any minute!!!!
It IS realy weird defending Lott....but..he DIDN"T say anything wrong. He was just being nice....
redrock
Total unadulterated BS and that is coming from a son of the south that is not pining for civil war 2.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.