Free Republic

Strom Thurmond, the only centenarian senator in American history, is dead, and in a day or two we'll see whether the undertakers have successfully dealt with a potential problem that might, ah, arise: in the words of a favourite Washington aphorism (coined, I think, by the late John Tower), "When ol' Strom dies, they'll have to beat his pecker down with a baseball bat in order to get that coffin lid closed."There's the epitaph a lot of us guys would like. Some eulogists will speak about his heroism in war. Others will deplore his 1948 presidential campaign as the segregationist...

Strom Thurmond, R.I.P. by Reality Featured Writer: W. James Antle III This is an article I am genuinely surprised to be writing. A hundred years is a long time to live and the likelihood is that a person who has reached such an advanced age will die sooner rather than later. Yet you come to expect some people to always be around, especially when they have been a part of the nation’s public life as long as Strom Thurmond. You know it is irrational to regard any human being as a permanent fixture on this planet, yet at a certain...

Hundreds Line Up to Say Goodbye as Thurmond's Body Lies in StateBy Pam Hamilton Associated Press WritersPublished: Jun 29, 2003 COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Hundreds of people lined up in oppressive heat Sunday at the South Carolina Statehouse to pay respects to Strom Thurmond, lying in state in a flag-draped casket, his World War II medals nearby. The one-time arch segregationist was 100 when he died Thursday at a hospital in his hometown of Edgefield, about 60 miles from Columbia. He was the longest-serving senator in history when he left the U.S. Senate five months ago. Many of the...

<p>Strom Thurmond is in guarded condition in an Edgefield hospital where he has been living since he retired from the U.S. Senate in January.</p> <p>Sam Gregory, CEO of Edgefield County Hospital, said Thurmond, 100, is in guarded condition, which means his condition is "very serious." Gregory could not give out any other medical information.</p>

U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton describes Strom Thurmond, in her new memoir, as a "frisky nonagenarian" with a "silky Southern charm that had gained him quite a reputation." South Carolina's 100-year-old favorite son, who retired this year as the oldest and longest-serving U.S. senator in history, comes in for some good-natured ribbing for his flirtatious ways in "Living History," which hit bookstore shelves Monday. In one passage, Clinton recalled the traditional congressional lunch at the beginning of President Clinton's second term in 1997: "Perhaps it was someone's idea of a joke to seat me next to Newt Gingrich and to...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -Black South Carolina lawmakers said Thursday they are upset by old photos of retired Republican U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond on the newest edition of the state's Legislative Manual. The front cover of the 2003 manual features a recent portrait of Thurmond, who retired in January after 46 years in the Senate. The back cover has photos of Thurmond as a baby and as a soldier in World War II. Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said the photos of Thurmond from the earlier era when he supported segregation are an insult to black South Carolinians. "This is the old Strom...

In Part I, I argued that it is not Democratic positions that most entice nearly all blacks and the great majority of Jews to vote Democrat. Rather this lopsided voting is more a function of the two groups' respective memories. As a result of millennia of Christian oppression of them, many Jews still fear religion, particularly Christians and Christianity, even though all the Christian anti-Semitism was European; and as a result of the Nazis, many Jews fear anything labeled "right wing." As for blacks, because of centuries of slavery and racism, many black Americans continue to harbor great anger at...

Lindsey Graham was sworn in Tuesday as South Carolina's first new U.S. senator in almost four decades, succeeding the longest-serving senator of all time. Strom Thurmond -- in the Senate for 48 years and at 100 the oldest senator ever -- rose from his wheelchair when Graham swore to uphold the Constitution. He said something inaudible to the packed Senate chamber but meant only for Graham: "Good luck. Go get 'em." The opening of the 108th Congress resembled a college graduation, with thousands of proud family members following their senators to press briefing and photo opportunities. Instead of tough questions...

The racial controversy stirred up by Senate GOP leader Trent Lott (Miss.) is likely to shape the early legislative and political battles of the 108th Congress and may affect the relationship between the White House and congressional Republicans, but Lott's resignation yesterday also could return longer-term dividends to President Bush and the Republican Party. The Lott affair could not have ended in a way more helpful to the White House, with the damaged GOP leader out and Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a man with close ties to the administration, the likely successor as the new majority leader of the Senate....

I have just posted the first complete draft of a study and analysis of the recent Lott smear, in the context of established Leftist tactics and how to answer them. As always, comments are invited. There may not be time to specifically answer them, but they will be considered when I revise the post into its final form. The essay may be pulled up at Trent Lott Affair--The Anatomy & Context Of A Smear. William Flax

Lott furor singes Bush Distraction threatens White House agenda, relations with Senate 12/20/2002 By DAVID JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON - As Trent Lott fights for his political life, President Bush and his aides are starting to get bruised. A White House eager to press its agenda with a Republican-run Congress may have to scale back its ambitions, analysts said, lest they be tagged as "Lott Republicans" who care nothing about civil rights. The fallout over Mr. Lott's perceived nostalgia for the segregated past also threatens the president's relationship with Senate Republicans, not to mention black voters...

A lota Lott is too much Lott. That’s it. For the good of common sense. For the good of the USA. For the good of the Congress. For the good of moving on with real politics. Cut the lota Lott! Obviously, three main thrusts are at work in this on-going non-story: Demos are mad as mad can be. Why? Because they lost considerably in recent elections and so they lunge to make much adieu about nothing. Kids do it in school all the time. It’s called "getting attention." Some (not the logical, responsible ones) blacks have felt politically ignored (read...

Last week while the nation shrieked in horror at the reality that there are still people in our country who are all too oblivious to the consequences of racial segregation, for me it was just one more time a "squish" of a republican had shown his true colors. And while I jumped to the front of the line to say that this man was wrong and out of touch with reality, people like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh quickly jumped to defend him. Since those two names seem to embody to such a great degree as to what "true conservatism"...

Bush's silence could seal embattled senator's fate President, House speaker meet without Lott to plan agenda 12/18/2002 Associated Press WASHINGTON - Sen. Trent Lott said he "made a terrible mistake" in praising Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential candidacy, but the controversy continued Tuesday amid indications from White House advisers that President Bush won't try to save Mr. Lott's job. That could seal Mr. Lott's fate because several other Republican senators are expressing concerns that the Mississippian is a liability to their agenda in Congress and to Mr. Bush's re-election. On Tuesday, Mr. Bush stayed silent on the matter, waving...

StopDemocrats.com is asking for Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) to Step Aside. The petition reads: Recent comments by Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) involving Senator Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential candidacy supporting segregation have created a controversy that may force the Senator to step aside as leader of the Senate Republicans. This petition asks that the same standards be applied to Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) ,who is the current President pro tempore of the US Senate, and demands that he resign from any leadership post in the 108th Congress for saying the following racist comments on National television 21 months ago. "My old...

Lott apologizes again for remark 12/14/2002 By DAVID JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON - Under intense pressure, including from fellow Republicans, Trent Lott went before the cameras Friday to apologize profusely for saying the country would have benefited had segregationist Strom Thurmond been elected president in 1948. Mr. Lott insisted he would not step down as Senate Republican leader, although an increasing number of political analysts wonder if he can survive as spokesman for a party seeking to expand its support with blacks. Calling a news conference in his hometown of Pascagoula, Miss., where an airport and...

<p>Racist remarks are no longer tolerated in our society. Everyone knows that racism lingers in many corners cloaked by smiles and pretense of toleration. But it seldom creeps into the spotlight of national attention. Now it has.</p> <p>Sen. Trent Lott, the Mississippi Republican who hopes to lead the Senate when his party takes over next month, made an unabashedly racist statement recently that can't be blown off.</p>

Breaking: Trent Lott News Conference at 5:30 p.m. Easter Time

Lott Should Go A bad Majority Leader gets worse. By NR Editors Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott "has proven himself better suited to the back bench, where he is at least a generally reliable conservative vote. And there is an alternative in Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles . . . Conservatives should encourage Nickles to make the — admittedly risky — challenge against Lott." Thus wrote National Review in November 1998 after the GOP midterm disaster that year. We have long considered Lott a clumsy and ineffective Republican leader, and his controversial Strom Thurmond birthday remarks are a spectacular confirmation of...

When you get to this mb, scroll down to and click on "Trent Lott/Strom Thurmond", then scroll down to the first "David Phipps" post. [QUOTE]I think [Lott] was talking about the way that Truman just handed Eastern Europe, China, and Korea to the Communists. He wouldn't stand up to Stalin at the end of WWII, even though we had the manpower and the machinery to bury the USSR alive right then and there (not to mention the bomb when the Russians still didn't have it), and he wouldn't give the Chinese nationalists the help that they absolutley begged us for...