Senator Trent Lott is elected as the Republican Party's number two in the Senate by a single vote

CNN ^ | November 15 2006

[jmc1969]

Breaking

[OESY]

Tuesday, 10 December, 2002, 14:48 GMT
Senator's 'racist' remark sparks outrage


A leading member of the US Republican Party has apologized for remarks apparently praising America's past racial segregation policies.

Senate Republican leader Trent Lott said that America would have been better off if the now veteran Senator Strom Thurmond had won on a segregationist ticket in 1948 presidential elections.

Mr Thurmond, then governor of South Carolina, opposed the civil rights policies of President Harry Truman.

Mr Lott's remark, made at Senator Thurmond's 100th birthday party with President George W Bush present, caused an uproar in the country.

"A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past," Senator Lott said in his apology.

"Nothing could be further from the truth."


Reverend Jesse Jackson called for Senator Lott to step down

But former vice-president Al Gore emphasized that Senator Lott should be censured for his "racist statement".

He said Mr Lott's comment was "divisive along racial lines."

Mr Lott insisted that his remark was misunderstood.

"This was a light-hearted celebration of the 100th birthday of legendary Senator Strom Thurmond," he said.

"My comments were not an endorsement of his positions of over 50 years ago, but of the man and his life."

-- http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38572000/jpg/_38572331_lottparty300afp.jpg&imgrefurl=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2562215.stm&h=180&w=315&sz=14&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=uwMyEpjizC3e3M:&tbnh=67&tbnw=117&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlott%2Bthurmond%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

[Howlin]

Heh!

[Mo1]

I'm watching


http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan2_wm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS2

[conservativecorner]

Good? He still thinks the Senate is a private country club and demoncrats are fun to play with for God's sake!

[jveritas]

Listen Dirt.

The GOP lost one election but have won so many before this. We have won much more elections in the last 15 years than the democrats. The GOP will be back and win the elections again as we did so many times before but we do not need pathetic idiots who are on the verge of total depression. A party win with optimistic and hard working people not with pessimistic, stupid, crazy people.

[dc-zoo]

Yeah most freepers think Trent was elected Majority leader or Minority leader instead of Minority Whip. Also strange there's little or no mention of Mitch McConnel getting the Minority leader spot. Must be 'election hangover'.

[jveritas]

Go and take your Prozac, you need it.

[Howlin]

Weak people cannot rule, they always lose.

It is not US who are weak; it is the people we keep picking to RULE.

You know, the losers from last week.

[NittanyLion]

Go and take your Prozac, you need it.

Resorting to childish insults now? Absolutely pathetic.

[Howlin]

Precisely!

[SoCalPol]

First, Martinez, now this. We keep rearranging the deck chairs on the Tianic

[Tribune7]

If it's Mitch is leader I can stomach Trent as No. 2.

If Santorum didn't lose, he'd have a shot at Majority Leader

[MisterRepublican]

More idiocy from the Republican party. Damn it!

[donna]

This negative attitude is certainly not helpful. The republicans get enough of that from DU.

[jveritas]

It is not childish at all, I mean it.

[Lucky9teen]

Chester Trent Lott (born Oct. 9, 1941) is a U.S. Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party.

He was United States Senate Majority Leader from June 12, 1996 through Jan. 3, 2001. Vice President Albert A. Gore Jr.'s deciding vote gave Democrats the majority until Jan. 20, 2001, when Richard B. Cheney became vice president. His deciding vote gave Republicans the majority until June 6, 2001, when Vermont Sen. James M. Jeffords announced his resignation from the Republican Party and decided to join the Democratic caucus as an independent. Lott subsquently became minority leader.

With the Republicans' victory in the 2002 Senate elections, Lott was once again slated to become majority leader when the 108th Congress convened on Jan. 7, 2003. However, comments he made at a 100th birthday celebration for South Carolina Sen. (James) Strom Thurmond, a former segregation proponent, that appeared to be nostalgic for racial segregation made Lott's leadership position untenable, and he resigned from the leadership on Dec. 20, 2002.

Contents [hide]
1 Political Biography
1.1 Controversy and resignation
2 Affilations
3 Related articles
4 External links



[edit]Political Biography
Lott attended college at University of Mississippi where he was a cheerleader. He obtained an undergraduate degree in public administration and later a law degree. He served as a Field Representative of the University and was president of his fraternity. He was later criticized for his involvement in the all-white fraternity (which had a reputation for racism). Although eligible, Lott chose not to serve in the military during the Vietnam War.

Trent Lott entered public office in 1972, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from Mississippi. He served eight terms, then successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1988, filling the seat formerly held by retiring John C. Stennis. He was re-elected in 1994 and 2000. He became majority leader in 1996, following the resignation of Sen. Robert J. Dole from the Senate to pursue the Presidency.

He is currently a cosponsor of the bill to create a Director of National Intelligence. Despite his alleged racism, Lott has been a strong supporter of high levels of immigration from non-white and third world countries.

[edit]Controversy and resignation
Tremendous political controversy ensued following remarks Lott made on Dec. 5, 2002 at the 100th birthday party of Sen. J. Strom Thurmond. Thurmond ran for President of the United States in 1948 on the Dixiecrat (or States' Rights) ticket, whose primary campaign issue was the perpetuation of racial segregation. Lott said:

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."
At first, the comment, broadcast on C-SPAN, was largely ignored by the mainstream media but was widely discussed on political blogs such as Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, which also uncovered Lott's history of actively supporting segregation during college and making similar statements at various points throughout his career. Five days later the story was picked up by all the major news networks, and repeated and discussed extensively.

Lott's attempts to explain the remark grew from a mild dismissal as an off-the-cuff remark supporting Thurmond's national defense platform to an explicit repudiation of his racist past and assertions of support for affirmative action in a BET interview, by which time his political fate was sealed.

Once reported in newspapers and television, calls for his resignation as majority leader from both ends of the political spectrum grew.

Some Democrats and Republicans considered the remark unconscionable, or as Al Gore put it, "fundamentally racist", and many conservative groups and media outlets attempting to create an image for the Republican Party as inclusive of minorities were quick to distance themselves from Lott and criticize the incident. Centrist Democrats and Republicans at first defended Lott, insisting the remarks had been blown out of proportion.

After President George W. Bush voiced his own harsh criticism of Lott's remarks: "Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive, and it is wrong. Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized and rightly so. Every day that our nation was segregated was a day our nation was unfaithful to our founding ideals," it was evident that it would be difficult for Lott to remain majority leader, although the official White House line was that Lott did not need to resign.

Lott later agreed with the President's speech. In the aforementioned BET interview, he said, "Segregation is a stain on our nation’s soul... Segregation and racism are immoral."

Under pressure from Senate colleagues, and having lost the support of the White House, Lott resigned as Senate Republican Leader on Dec. 20, 2002. Sen. William H. Frist from Tennessee was later elected to the leadership position. Senator Lott was chosen by his collegues as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules after the controversy.

http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Trent_Lott

[ClancyJ]

We don't have short term memories - that is why we are upset.

It was a blessing when he was kicked out - and he will now redouble his efforts AGAINST THE PRESIDENT AND THE GOP and to curry favor with the dems.

We don't need more obstacles, we need strength for us, not the dems.

[Howlin]

Seems like you are describing the GOP, not us. We're not the ones living in denial of the lessons delivered by voters just over a week ago.

LOL.......I'll just let you post for a while because you and I are posting almost word for word the same reponses!

[ExSoldier]

I imagine the Dems think it funny nonetheless.

They'll stop giggling when they think of the situation with Murtha....

[truthkeeper]

Howlin: I can't tell you many times the gallows humor around here has kept me from opening a vein. Sometimes you just gotta laugh to keep from crying. Good God...remember the impeachment days of yore?

Seems to me our friend Trent had a little part in that one too. :-(