So you think Lott advocated lynching blacks by praising Thurmond? Thurmond was wrong to support that platform, and he later abandoned those views.
Yes, Thurmond was a segregationist back in '48. Nearly every southern governor, congressman, and senator back then opposed every piece of civil rights legislation. One of those was a bill to make lynching a federal crime. Southerners opposed it, as they did all such laws, fearing that any imposition on the south would snowball into full-fledged integration. They were very much like the pro-aborts today who oppose banning late term abortions fearing it will lead to more restrictions down the road.
They were wrong to support segregation, and it led to some real extremism. Ditto for today's pro-aborts.
Go back and take a look at that Dixiecrat ballot again. You'll see the name of a congressman named Whitten. He served a long tenure in congress, from 1941 to 1995. He was a white supremacist, a segregationist, and an opponent of the anti-lynch bill. Like Thurmond, he later recanted those views. He also became chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee courtesy of the Democrats, all of whom lauded him at his retirement ceremony eight years ago.
http://www.djournal.com/djournal/site/pages/specialsections/125/whitten.htm Changed:11:25 AM on Thursday, June 3, 1999
Look, he said what he said, and you can rationalize it all you want. It won't change what he said nor will it change the fact that it was a seriously stupid thing to say, not to mention offensive. Yes, I said the "O" word. Sue me.