# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/101 "2002-12-11T01:55:23Z")
What pleases me to know is that even Rush Limbaugh came out to admonish Lott. Maybe there’s some hope for him in the afterlife. ---
**Author:** ![Narile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@Narile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Narile)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/102 "2002-12-11T01:58:25Z")
So, where is the taking Clinton to task for calling another racist a man whom everyone in the Arkansas Ozarks a special debt of gratitude, and called him one of the great leaders of our times. Namely, Fulbright, who was elected several times in Arkansas primarily on his pro-segregation stance. Not much different from Strom, save of course, Fulbright was a dem. ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/103 "2002-12-11T02:24:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Narile \* > \*\*So, where is the taking Clinton to task for calling another racist a man whom everyone in the Arkansas Ozarks a special debt of gratitude, and called him one of the great leaders of our times. > > Namely, Fulbright, who was elected several times in Arkansas primarily on his pro-segregation stance. > > Not much different from Strom, save of course, Fulbright was a dem. \*\* Well, I’m not familiar with what Clinton said about Fulbright, but from the sense I get from your post there is a very big difference. Clinton isn’t saying Fulbright is a great man, and would have been even better if his pro-segregration stance had won out. Lott, apparently, is. See, one is praising in general the activities of a noted man, without mentioning either way that man’s stance on race/segregation. The other is praising the same thing, but also then bringing up a very specific point about race/segregation. So there is far less reason to take Clinton to task. Lott deserves all the shit that’s coming down on him. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/104 "2002-12-11T02:25:32Z")
> [@](#): > > So, where is the taking Clinton to task… Asked and answered in the same post. Very neatly done, but then it should be after nearly a decade of practice. Maybe with a little more effort you could make it go elsewhere too. Sort of cover up this whole sorry mess with revisionist memories of the horrors visited upon us by the demons of the past ? Damn, that’d make us all feel so friggin noble and righteous wouldn’t it ? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/105 "2002-12-11T02:30:41Z")
You were watching Fox, you devil you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jeevmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@jeevmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeevmon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/106 "2002-12-11T02:31:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Narile \* > \*\*So, where is the taking Clinton to task for calling another racist a man whom everyone in the Arkansas Ozarks a special debt of gratitude, and called him one of the great leaders of our times. > > Namely, Fulbright, who was elected several times in Arkansas primarily on his pro-segregation stance. > > Not much different from Strom, save of course, Fulbright was a dem. \*\* It’s a completely different situation. Lott is not being criticized or taken to task just for saying nice things about Strom Thurmond. Lott is being taken to task (justifiably) for stating that the country would have been a better place (i.e. wouldn’t have all “these problems”) if Strom Thurmond had been elected President in 1948. The reason Lott is being taken to task is not simply because Strom Thurmond was a bigot when he ran in 1948. It’s because Strom Thurmond’s whole candidacy was based on defending the racial status quo in the South, a status quo which included segregation, inequality, disenfranchisement, and lynchings. Lott went a lot further than simply calling Thurmond a good or great man. Lott basically said that the country made a mistake by rejecting the things Strom Thurmond stood for in 1948. But hey, thanks for playing and we have some lovely parting gifts for you . . . ---
**Author:** ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/107 "2002-12-11T02:31:45Z")
I should also add to my post above yet another difference: namely, you’d be hard-pressed to find many people who think Clinton is in any way, shape, or form a racist. Not the same for Lott. And the internal motivations of someone when they speak cannot be separated from their words. ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/108 "2002-12-11T03:13:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Narile \* > \*\*So, where is the taking Clinton to task for calling another racist a man whom everyone in the Arkansas Ozarks a special debt of gratitude, and called him one of the great leaders of our times. > > Namely, Fulbright, who was elected several times in Arkansas primarily on his pro-segregation stance. > > Not much different from Strom, save of course, Fulbright was a dem. \*\* I’m afraid I disagree. First of all, Fulbright was a much better Senator than Thurmond – who accomplished nothing during his many years in the Senate. More importantly, I assume Clinton didn’t specifically praise Fulbright’s pro-segregation activities. For whatever reason, Lott did praise Thurmond’s efforts to maintain Jim Crow. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/109 "2002-12-11T03:33:21Z")
## \>\>I at least would of thought Trent Lott spoke English. \>\>GAH!!! You at least would have thought! Personally I think the fault is in the spelling. You really would’ve thought. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/110 "2002-12-11T03:46:41Z")
[http://apnews.excite.com/article/20021210/D7NQLPJO2.html](http://apnews.excite.com/article/20021210/D7NQLPJO2.html) > [@](#): > > “A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embrace the digarded policies of the past,” Lott, R-Miss., said in a statement. “Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my statement.” OK, so what the hell **did** the statement mean then, Trent? Wouldn’t this “apology” be just a wee bit more believable if he actually offered up a plausible non-racist explanation of what the comment meant? ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/111 "2002-12-11T06:39:04Z")
[http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/columnists/cole/cartoon.cfm?CD=12102002](http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/columnists/cole/cartoon.cfm?CD=12102002) ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/112 "2002-12-11T06:49:09Z")
The [Family Research Council](http://www.frc.org/?i=WI00000985&CFID=1372089&CFTOKEN=9179219) (a “religious right” organization not noted for its bleeding-heart liberalism) has also been raking Lott over the coals for his remarks: > [@](#): > > Good grief! What was the senator thinking? Or was he thinking? Strom Thurmond broke with the Democratic Party in 1948 and ran for president as a “Dixiecrat” to defend racial segregation and oppose the civil rights movement. Why would Sen. Lott boast that Mississippi voted for a segregationist? And what are these “problems” Sen. Lott suggests would have been avoided had a segregationist been elected president? The landmark Civil Rights Act? The Voting Rights Act? Integrated public schools? Anti-lynching laws? Abolition of the poll tax? To his credit, Strom Thurmond has overcome his segregationist past and embraced racial reconciliation. But Trent Lott appears oblivious to the mischief his blundering has caused. There seems to be a lot of :smack:'ing going on in the rightward regions of the American political spectrum. It will be interesting to see if anything substantive comes of it, though. (I.e., if the distinguished Senator’s political career actually suffers any.) ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/113 "2002-12-11T06:58:47Z")
—Read your history, Apos.— I’ve read it. Unfortunately, that forces me to look at it in a way that goes beyond a few sentances. What’s obvious to you is not what’s obvious in general, and certainly is not what’s obvious to someone like Lott. —Now, what could all “these problems” be? Well, he doesn’t say. That’s true. But Lott expressed a belief that there are problems in society that would not exist had followed the pro-segregation creed that Thurmond was espousing in 1948, and that society would be a better place for it.— You’re making those connections, in the abscence of knowing what Lott meant. To you, all that matters is segregation. To Lott, I’m not so sure that’s true. I’m certainly not trying to suggest that Lott’s comments DIDN’T mean what you say, but I guess I’m not as eager a fan of the “Gotcha!” game. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/114 "2002-12-11T07:08:01Z")
[He’s said it before](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37288-2002Dec10.html). ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/115 "2002-12-11T07:54:31Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by DDG_ > **So Trent thinks that electing one by-god racist president back in 1948 would have, what, kept all that nasty civil rights stuff from happening, and we’d still have blacks who knew their place? Egad.** No, I think he thought it would make an old man feel good and I’m not against that kind of sentiment. However, I don’t mean to sound like I am blindly supporting my senator. I think the fact that Lott ran for senate leader over our senior senator Thad Cochran tells you that he is out for #1. Also that perpetual motion machine was _invented_ by someone from Mississippi, so it was pure pork belly politics. Concerning **zigaretten** ’s list of strange things politicans have done, I wish to add Carter claiming that a swimming rabbit attacked him. He also claimed to have seen a UFO and promised during the election to release all information the government had after he got into office. That was the last time he mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![jeevmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@jeevmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeevmon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/116 "2002-12-11T12:39:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apos \* > \*\*—Read your history, Apos.— > > I’ve read it. Unfortunately, that forces me to look at it in a way that goes beyond a few sentances. What’s obvious to you is not what’s obvious in general, and certainly is not what’s obvious to someone like Lott. > > —Now, what could all “these problems” be? Well, he doesn’t say. That’s true. But Lott expressed a belief that there are problems in society that would not exist had followed the pro-segregation creed that Thurmond was espousing in 1948, and that society would be a better place for it.— > > You’re making those connections, in the abscence of knowing what Lott meant. To you, all that matters is segregation. To Lott, I’m not so sure that’s true. I’m certainly not trying to suggest that Lott’s comments DIDN’T mean what you say, but I guess I’m not as eager a fan of the “Gotcha!” game. \*\* You and the point seem to be complete strangers. I’m am not trying to read Lott’s mind, nor do I have to. It’s enough to look at the words that actually came out of his mouth and the historical context of those remarks. Thurmond’s candidacy arose specifically out of his opposition to the civil rights plank in the Democrats’ 1948 platform. Thurmond sought the presidency in 1948 on a platform advocating maintaining the racial status quo in the South and fighting civil rights legislation. His candidacy had no other purpose. It’s raison d’etre was preservation of segregation and racial inequality. I’m making the connections between Lott’s statement and segregation because the connections are there to be made, and made quite readily. It’s not that “all that matters to me is segregation.” It’s that all that mattered to Thurmond in 1948 was segregation, and Lott said that we would be better off now if Thurmond had won the Presidency in 1948 and enacted the platform on which he ran. The platform on which Thurmond ran was explicitly pro-segregation and it was the support of segregation that contrasted it from the Democratic party that he deserted that year. And that’s why Lott’s comments have generated the reaction they did. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/117 "2002-12-11T13:15:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apos \* > \*\*You’re making those connections, in the abscence of knowing what Lott meant. To you, all that matters is segregation. To Lott, I’m not so sure that’s true. I’m certainly not trying to suggest that Lott’s comments DIDN’T mean what you say, but I guess I’m not as eager a fan of the “Gotcha!” game. \*\* Lott had the perfect opportunity to explain what he _really_ meant in his apology, yet did not do so. I thought maybe that the apology was longer, and the AP wire only printed part of it, but Lott’s page at [http://lott.senate.gov/](http://lott.senate.gov/) has the same short apology. In the absence of any counter-explanation, his apology is very unconvincing IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/118 "2002-12-11T14:15:18Z")
The “discarded” policies of the past, he called them in his “apology”. Not discredited, contemptible, hateful, or any other adjective that would show any understanding of _why_ they were discarded. This story’s legs are just beginning to grow, and it will come to a head right about the time to formalize the election of the majority leaders for the next term, just a few weeks away. ---
**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 11, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/119 "2002-12-11T14:29:05Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by ElvisL1ves on 12/10:_ > \*\*“Most Republicans” in the Senate have voted repeatedly for Lott as their leader, and they’re fully aware as politicians that what a leader stands for is what the party will be taken to stand for. \*\* I open up today’s Chicago _Tribune_ and what do I see? Apparently the “Dump Lott” movement has [begun.](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0212110330dec11,0,870227.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed) > [@](#): > > Conservative critics add to Lott’s plight > > By Jill Zuckman > Washington Bureau > Published December 11, 2002 > > WASHINGTON – After trying to downplay and then apologize for comments seen by many as supporting Strom Thurmond’s 1948 segregationist views, Senate Republican leader Trent Lott faced a new wave of criticism Tuesday from some fellow conservatives as well as Democrats and minority groups. > > Some Republicans even questioned his suitability to lead their party in the newly recaptured Senate. > > The controversy is hitting Lott, a Mississippian who has previously faced complaints from GOP allies that he is a poor communicator, just as he is poised to take over as leader of the Senate majority. Republicans, who have been trying to attract African-American voters, had hoped he could team up with the White House and the House to push a unified, revitalized GOP agenda. > > Since then, Lott has tried to apologize, but the drumbeat of criticism has only gotten louder. And on Tuesday, a conservative group, the Family Research Council, joined in and blasted Lott. > > “The damage he’s done is considerable,” the Family Research Council said in a statement. “Sen. Lott’s ill-considered remarks will serve only to reinforce the false stereotype that white conservatives are racists at heart. Republicans ought to ask themselves if they really want their party to continue to be represented by Trent Lott.” The NAACP wants him out, and the Congressional Black Caucus doesn’t think the apology went far enough. [http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/10/lott.comment/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/10/lott.comment/index.html) > [@](#): > > Black leaders press Lott on remark > Mississippi Republican apologizes for comment > > Wednesday, December 11, 2002 Posted: 1:02 AM EST (0602 GMT) > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – Black lawmakers Tuesday labeled as inadequate incoming Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott’s apology for a comment praising Strom Thurmond’s 1948 segregationist presidential bid, and the NAACP called on him to give up his leadership post… > [@](#): > > \*\*See if you can get DDG to google you a list of all the buildings in this state named after Strom. The guy’d be willing to slaughter Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web if it’d bring another pound of ham or bacon here. \*\* Here ya go, Stofsky. Took one Google click–Strom’s got the mounted trophies nailed to the virtual wall of his Senate web page. 😃_Mighty hunter of pork…_ [http://thurmond.senate.gov/pages/bio.htm](http://thurmond.senate.gov/pages/bio.htm) > [@](#): > > Strom Thurmond Hall, Winthrop College, Rock Hill, SC, 1939 > Strom Thurmond High School, Edgefield County, SC, 1961 > Strom Thurmond Student Center, Charleston Southern University, Charleston, SC, 1972 > Strom Thurmond Federal Building, Columbia, SC, 1975 > Strom Thurmond Auditorium at the University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, SC, 1982 > Strom Thurmond Vocational Rehabilitation Center, Aiken, SC, 1987 > Strom Thurmond Educational Center, Union, SC, 1987 > Strom Thurmond Mall, Columbia, SC, 1988 > Strom Thurmond Institute, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, April 22, 1989 > Strom Thurmond Soldier Service Center, Fort Jackson, Columbia, SC, 1991 > Strom Thurmond Room in US Capitol, November 25, 1991 > Strom Thurmond Biomedical Research Center, Medical University of South Carolina, 1993 > Strom Thurmond National Guard Armory, Edgefield, SC, 1994 > Strom Thurmond Defense Finance and Accounting Building, Charleston, SC, 1995 And that’s not to mention the Strom Thurmond Lake, Dam and Highway, Clarks Hills, SC, 1987, or the Strom Thurmond Highway, I-20 from the Georgia Border to Florence, SC, 1992, or streets in several South Carolina towns and cities, or the Strom Thurmond life-sized statue on the Town Square, Edgefield, SC, erected by people of Edgefield County, 1984, or the Strom Thurmond Bust by Rick Hart, presented June 5, 1997, or the Strom Thurmond Monument, Columbia, SC, December 4, 1999. Picture of the Strom Thurmond monument. [http://carolinareporter.sc.edu/archive%209-9-99/stories/strom.htm](http://carolinareporter.sc.edu/archive%209-9-99/stories/strom.htm) $850,000, paid for by private donations. Big donors got their names on the base. Is it me or does it look like a Plastic Army Man? ---
**Author:** ![jeevmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@jeevmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jeevmon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083/120 "2002-12-11T14:43:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElvisL1ves \* > \*\*The “discarded” policies of the past, he called them in his “apology”. Not discredited, contemptible, hateful, or any other adjective that would show any understanding of _why_ they were discarded. > > This story’s legs are just beginning to grow, and it will come to a head right about the time to formalize the election of the majority leaders for the next term, just a few weeks away. \*\* The Bush administration brooks no political liabilities. My suspicion is that, having shown party solidarity and pledged his support for Lott as majority leader, Bush will send Karl Rove and/or Dick Cheney behind the scenes to “persuade” Lott to step down as majority leader. And then he would join a growing pile of prominent Republicans who were nudged out of their positions because they had become a liability to the administration. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott-is-an-idiot/141083.md?page=7)