Posted on 12/13/2002 10:07:29 PM PST by ArcLight
Another boldface lie from the Washington Post. It was the GOP who told Nixon to resign, the Democrats defended the rapist Clinton to the bitter end.
Also, the Post's article mentions nothing about why Lott is really unpopular in Conservative ranks, because the Post cannot bring themselves to do it:
Lott allowed Clinton's Senate Impeachment vote to be a "show trial" with no witnesses called
There is nothing unclear about his statement. That's why the media have been quoting him directly, over and over. It's also why his apology falls flat.
I'm *liking* it.
The double standard here is mindbogling. How many times have we heard from the left that it is not up to us to pick their leaders? Many of us wanted Lott to go a long time ago but it is up to the Republican Senate, not the media or Sharpton or Jackson.
They are using this to paint us all as racists, especially those of us who live in the south. We must stop being so sensitive to this charge. Lott said a stupid thing because he does not view things in terms of race like the race baiters of this world do. I'm sure it's been a long time since he even thought of Thurmond's past views. Strom is a long time collegue of Lott's who he agrees with and admires. He was not even thinking of his past positions on race.
I'm sick of the Republicans eating our own!!! The Rats never do!!! I understand that we are better then that and if I thought for a second that Lott was a racist I'd want him out to. If he steps down now it's like giving in to terrorists. They will just demand more and more!!!
So help me understand here. An all black Fraternity is cool, Black Miss America is cool, United Negro College Fund is just spiffy, but if anyone white would ever prefer to affiliate with whites only, then that is the equivalent of a hate crime. I consider myself colorblind in most regards when dealing with people, but the political correctness I see on these boards is incredible.
It would appear there are a lot of conservatives who are running away from being labeled segregationists and racists by the liberal establishment. Those on the left have done a magnificent job in the last week of scaring the hell out of conservatives and Republicans alike.
This unfortunate episode has shown how thin skinned many on the right really are. Weak kneed conservatives and spineless Republicans have chosen to condemn Trent Lott and kowtow to leftwing class warfare and special intetests. They'd rather, turn tail and run from the race baiting and double standards promoted by the in your face, politically correct liberal left. And behind it all, are the black liberal elites, led by their very own hypocritical leadership.
Maybe that's becaue Lott really is a thinly veiled segregationist.
Maybe that's because some of us conservatives don't feel like wasting valuable political and moral capital defending a guy who's spent most of his adult life pining for a return to the worst features of Old Dixie.
Maybe that's because some of us don't feel like wasting political capital defending a logrolling porkmeister who has repeatedly demonstrated his spinelessness in confrontations (if one can call them that) with Senate Democrats.
Maybe that's because some of us remember Trent's Profile in Courage when it came time to give a fair hearing to impeachment charges against x42.
Scaring us wasn't necessary. Lott was hoist by us - and by his own petard.
He's gotta go - and be replaced with a leader with moral fiber and and vertebrate characteristics.
I think there is a real danger here for conservatives, and some have unfortunately fallen into the trap.
We all know by know how the Washington Gaffe Go-Round works: Somebody says something they oughtn't, and the wolves come to feed. After a while those watching the banquet rather than dining at it tend to take it all with a grain of salt. That's an instinct which I confess I subscribe to myself, just as many of us do, particularly when the Victim of the Day is someone on your side of the fence. And in this case guys like Sharpton and Jackson have cheapened their moral outrage to the point where it's a valueless currency. They get upset when the sun sets; it must be a white Republican conspiracy. Time to organize a march.
But there's another chestnut of Beltway Wisdom, to wit: a "gaffe" is defined as a politician caught in the act of accidentally telling the truth. And in this case it's a troubling one when you actually look at what Lott said - especially when you learn it's not the first time he's said it. As a dyed-in-the-wool conservative I think it a serious mistake to simply dismiss this, as Ilcards has suggested, as Trent Lott trying to say something nice about ol' Strom at his birthday party and making a slip of the tongue. You cannot fairly look at what Trent said and simply dismiss it so quickly.
Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign was not a dime store third party run. He and his supporters bolted the Democratic convention over one issue only: that of race relations. It wasn't about limited government or low taxes or other longtime conservative staples. It was solely about something that the American mainstream now rightly regards as ugly and evil, and rightly so.
There are two escape hatches available for those who go on record defending the indefensible, and neither one is available to Trent Lott. Firstly: that of ignorance. Lott grew up in Mississippi and knows full well what the Dixicrats are about, and his sin is compounded by his long and dubious personal history - his longtime political mentor Congressmen Colmar was a die-hard segregationist and Dixiecrat, and Lott himself made an almost identical public statement in 1980, to say nothing of his long association with the white supremacist-tinged Council of Conservative Citizens, or other troubling episodes in his past documented by black conservative columnist Robert George. Secondly: that of age. Older politicos of a certain age (like Wallace or Thurmond) or given some latitude for overcoming their segregationist past if they make sufficient amends for it and renunciation of it. Lott however is too young to get such a pass; born in 1941 he's of the generation commonly identified with the New South, not the Old. And he most certainly continues to make troubling statements, while even Thurmond has not done so for decades.
This isn't to tingle out Kangaroo, no doubt a fine poster and conservative sans peur. I've seen conservative talking heads like Mark Levin and Sean Hannity take a similar tack over the last week and frankly I have been a little disappointed. "Yes, but" they'll say, spending most of their energy and time pointing out the hypocrisy of many on the Left and the double standard that exists. I think this insufficient as a response on our part. It's well and good to point out the inconsistency of those on the Left but we shouldn't lose sight of just exactly what Lott has said and done and why it should be and is profoundly troubling to us - to say nothing of the real damage it may do to the moral standing and political prospects of the movement and the party.
I can't say whether Lott is a racist. I'd like to think not. I do think he has - at best - a real blind spot and a disturbing lack of judgment when it comes to race relations and I think it makes him a poor party leader. His failure to issue an immediate and sincere apology (only doing so once the baying reached a crescendo) makes clear that he really doesn't "get it." And I think conservatives ought to admit as much, as much as it pains us to give a scalp to the baying wolves of the Racial Huckster Crowd.
Let's point out the foibles of the Left in all this. But let's also recognize what Lott has done for what it is and urge him to do the right thing and step down from his leadership position.
It's not political correctness to do so. It's just the right thing to do.
Unlike liberals, we actually have standards. It's time we upheld them.
Correction. You don't get it.
Yeah, if ol' boy can take a hint, that is...
I can see what other folks are saying, about buckling to all the liberal yapping that has ensued... Time to call a spade a spade, though. And frankly, if we conservs were going to stand up against 'em, I'd rather have someone a helluvalot better than Trent "Bend-me-over" Lott to fight over...
What I'm trying to say is, the GOP should pick its battles. Not that we have been anyway, but Trent ain't it. This is just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned, and I, for one, will be one happy conservative if he lets the door hit him where the Good Lord split him...
Well said! And Lott has stooped to blackmail. I don't know how anyone can defend that???
Well NO. I don't want him to take his marbles and go home altogether. (Didn't I read about him threatening to pack up his tighty whities and shake the Capitol Hill dust from his loafers entirely if the GOP made him step down...)
I've just been impatient for new leadership, that's all...
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