# Trent Lott is an idiot **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 7, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083 "2002-12-07T04:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/41 "2002-12-07T18:02:08Z")
Just another example of the Republican Party reaching out to black voters. Just like you keep telling us, **december**. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/42 "2002-12-07T18:07:15Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Apos_ > **I have no love for Lott** Then why don’t you let us bash him in peace, for the love of Pete?!?!? > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > **[leaving thread with a small shudder for what might have been, and a renewed respect for the haberdasher from Kansas]** Don’t worry, **DDG** , I know you meant Missouri.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/43 "2002-12-07T18:12:51Z")
> [@](#): > > He also reminds us of Reagans fondness for astrology and those little tete-a-tetes that Hillary used to hold with Eleanor Roosevelts ghost. Gimme a break! Hilary is on record as having explained what those remarks about ER meant – she saw her as a role model for an activist First Lady, and asked herself “WWERD?” in deciding how to handle her political role. I tend to look at the examples of St. Polycarp, Francis of Assisi, Heinlein, and above all Jesus in figuring out what I ought to be saying and doing; surely you don’t think I conjure up two saints, a SF writer, and the Christ with my Ouija board to make my decisions? **DDG** , I concur in every particular. > [@](#): > > Just another example of the Republican Party reaching out to black voters. > > Just like you keep telling us, **december**. Splort!!! It’s not fair to **december** to bring that up here, but still… ::: runs out of thread stifling hysterical laughter ::: ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/44 "2002-12-07T18:39:49Z")
Favorite Truman anecdote: Truman was invited to join the local Ku Klux Klan, who sent along some literature and stuff to his shop, where it was peruded by Harry and his partner, who was Jewish. Later, Truman went to the Klan meeting just as if he intended to be inducted, and proceeded to give them a speech about how full of crap he thought they were. As part of that speech, he is alleged to have said “You know, my partner figures there must be at least one Jew here, because he says only a Jew would be smart enough to sell you guys a bed sheet with a couple of holes cut into it for $4.95” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/45 "2002-12-07T18:40:51Z")
“peruded”, Crap. “perused” ---
**Author:** ![JDM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@JDM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDM)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/46 "2002-12-07T21:17:19Z")
[Here,](http://atrios.blogspot.com/2002_12_01_atrios_archive.html#90023494) thanks to Atrios, is a copy of the sample ballot distributed in that election. Yeah, yeah, I know it says it’s the Mississippi _Democratic_ Party. But them’s the Dixiecrats. Times, like Strom’s party affiliation, have changed. A choice quote- if Truman wins, > [@](#): > > the vicious FEPC- anti-poll tax - anti-lynching and anti-segregation proposals will become the law of the land and our way of life in the South will be gone forever. I guess Trent really dislikes those anti-lynching laws. And from the Dixiecrat platform: > [@](#): > > The negro is a native of tropical climate where fruits and nuts are plentiful and where clothing is not required for protection against the weather … The essentials of society in the jungle are few and do not include the production, transportation and marketing of goods. [Thus] his racial constitution has been fashioned to exclude any idea of voluntary cooperation on his part. I was going to quote more about Trent’s ties with the Council of Conservative Citizens, but just go read up from the linked section. JDM ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/47 "2002-12-07T21:33:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Just another example of the Republican Party reaching out to black voters. > > Just like you keep telling us, december. So, all Republicans have the same views? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/48 "2002-12-07T22:02:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by december \*if the rest of the country **had of** followed our lead we **wouldn’t of** had all these problems over all these years, either." Well if the bolded things are original to Lott, then yes, he is an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![zigaretten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@zigaretten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zigaretten)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/49 "2002-12-07T22:47:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Polycarp \* > Gimme a break! Hilary is on record as having explained what those remarks about ER meant – she saw her as a role model for an activist First Lady, and asked herself “WWERD?” in deciding how to handle her political role. I tend to look at the examples of St. Polycarp, Francis of Assisi, Heinlein, and above all Jesus in figuring out what I ought to be saying and doing; surely you don’t think I conjure up two saints, a SF writer, and the Christ with my Ouija board to make my decisions? But…do you actually use a Ouija Board? Hillary **was using** a professional “channeler.” And although you are correct that the First Lady explained it all away as a “mental exercise” when it became an embarrassment, Mr. Gardiner points out that “mental exercises” weren’t what the channeler, Jean Houston, was selling at the time. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by js\_africanus \* > I hope you didn’t think I’m a Dem just because Trent Lott can’t grasp high school physics. Actually, I made it a point to include Reagan to illustrate that this is a problem which infects both parties. I might add that what’s really sad is that these people **are not** idiots (despite claims made in the heat of political debate). And they are not uneducated. The problem lies elsewhere, but I admit I don’t have the solution. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/50 "2002-12-07T23:01:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Belowjob \* > \*\*Oh please. Thurmond hasn’t really changed his views. I’m sure you remember Clarence Thomas’ supreme court nomination, when Thurmond said that he agreed with Thomas’ views, but objected to his (white) wife. > \*\* Still waiting for a citation for this claim. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/51 "2002-12-07T23:21:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > Well if the bolded things are original to Lott, then yes, he is an idiot. Was it a prepared statement or just something he happened to say? If it was prepared, aren’t the odds rather better that it was something a speechwriter prepared? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2002, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/52 "2002-12-07T23:27:47Z")
C-Span has the video of Strom’s birthday party. It’s an hour-long video; Trent gets up to speak at minute 32. The two speeches before it are actually pretty funny, but to get to them you have to sit through a bunch of footage of people hobnobbing and having their picture taken with Strom. [http://www.c-span.org/politics/](http://www.c-span.org/politics/) Can’t link directly to the video, it’s clip 11598. > [@](#): > > Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) 100th Birthday Celebration > Thursday, December 05, 2002 - Washington, DC > Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) attends a Capitol Hill event marking his 100th birthday. Sen. Min. Leader Lott (R-MS) & Fmr. Sen. Dole (R-KS) speak. He leads directly into it after making a joke about Mississippi, and it’s obviously meant to be part of the Mississippi joke, but it falls totally flat. There’s a moment of absolute dead silence, and then he continues with his speech with a heavy-handed joke about Senate wives being allowed to speak. People don’t laugh much at it because they’re probably too busy whispering to each other, “Did he really just say what I think he just said?” And it doesn’t sound like either “wouldn’t have” or “wouldn’t of”–he says, fairly rapidly: > [@](#): > > And if the rest of the country had-a followed our lead we wouldn’t-a had all these problems over all these years, either. Say it out loud fast and you’ll see what I mean. I don’t have a fast enough computer to be able to see from the RealPlay video whether he was speaking from a hard copy or if he was speaking ad lib, but it came across as rather fumbling ad lib, at least, the part of it I listened to. By contrast, the two previous speakers–Thad Strom, the organizer, and Bob Dole–both gave very slick, funny, obviously scripted and rehearsed speeches. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/53 "2002-12-08T00:08:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SPOOFE \* > \*\*So, all Republicans have the same views? \*\* Apparently enough do that Lott was elected to Majority Leader. The choice of him as the Majority Leader says much about the party, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/54 "2002-12-08T05:30:57Z")
No, Trent Lott is not an idiot. Trent lot is the active legislative representative of racist reactionaries of his party, and like most succesful Republicans, he can at best speak softly in support of such concepts as equality, and egalatarianism, while repairing his reputation among the extreme bigots by kissing Strom Thurmonds ass publicly, and making comments that his supporters will know mean he still hates them niggers as much as he ever did, back when it was ok to do so out loud. Idiots are only sent to the Senate when the political machine is in absolute control of the governement. Tris ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/55 "2002-12-08T09:00:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cuauhtemoc \* > \*\*To me, everything that guy does screams “Ignorant Cracker”. Remember when Senator Clinton was elected and he publicly expressed his wish that she would get struck by lightning before taking office? I don’t care how you feel about someone, that’s just unprofessional. \*\* Yeah, let’s yell at that racist guy by using a racial slur towards him. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/56 "2002-12-08T12:30:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > \*\*Still waiting for a citation for this claim. \*\* I think you’re going to be waiting for a long time. Thurmond, in fact, was a major supporter of Clarence Thomas. Maybe Belowjob confused Thurmond’s position with Anita Hill’s. [She said](http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/news/april3/anitahill-43.html), “I do not think Strom Thurmond would have embraced Clarence Thomas so readily if his accuser had been a white female.” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/57 "2002-12-08T15:29:57Z")
Trent Lott: > [@](#): > > received his Bachelor of Science in Public Administration degree in 1963 and his Juris Doctorate in 1967 from the University of Mississippi in Oxford. [http://lott.senate.gov/leader/bio.html](http://lott.senate.gov/leader/bio.html) With accomplishments like that how could Lott _possibly_ be an idiot ? To claim that he is undermines the whole case for our President not being a moron. (Which of course he is not, but it’d be nice to see a bit of consistancy in the arguments coming from the right wing) ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/58 "2002-12-08T15:59:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\* it’d be nice to see a bit of consistancy in the arguments coming from the right wing) \*\* I think Harvard and Yale are more prestigeous universities than Ole Miss. YMMV 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/59 "2002-12-08T16:15:12Z")
An interesting thing about Lott is that he was the president of a fraternity at Ole Miss when James Meredith integrated the university in 1962. JFK and RFK sent in the National Guard, a riot ensued and several people were killed. Although I think Lott is, in general, a fuckhead, he ordered that all of his fraternity brothers stay far, far away from the melee, which is a lot better than most people there at the time. From _An American Insurrection_, by William Doyle: > [@](#): > > In one of the few public statements he has made about the 1962 riot, Trent Lott was quoted in _Time_ magazine in 1997 as saying, “Yes, you could say that I favored segregation then. I don’t now.” He added, “The main thing was, I felt the federal government had no business in troops to tell the state what to do.” I wonder if he feels the same way now. My guess is yes. It’s all about the states rights. ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2002, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/60 "2002-12-08T19:45:40Z")
The video **DDG** linked to was pretty telling. Bob Dole gave a respectful yet tactful speech, making note of the fact that the US has come a long way from the days of segregation, and so has Strom Thurmond (according to Dole). That way, he made it known that he didn’t approve of Strom’s blatantly racist stands on civil rights issues in the past. Trent Lott, on the other hand, proved himself to be a total fuckbrunching asstwinkie with his comments. The Britney Spears jokes were funny, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083.md?page=4)