# Trent Lott **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 11, 2002, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127 "2002-12-11T22:56:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**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 14, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/121 "2002-12-14T16:34:50Z")
What bothered me about the apology (and I was almost ready to give him a pass, several days of public humiliation and villification should have been enough to really chasten him) was that he never really acknowledged his own past (?) racism. He even made a reference to how “we” fought segregation–um…excuse me, didn’t he fight FOR segregation. He says NOW that segregation was “immoral” (how courageous :rolleyes:) but does not explain why he SUPPORTED it, or when or why he changed his mind. There was no real confessional aspect to his statement, just bland condemnations of the “past” without any reference to his own CULPABILITY in that past. If he had said, “look, I was raised in a redneck culture. I acted like a hillbilly asswipe in college. After I grew up and experienced life, I learned how moronic those attitudes were. I can’t believe now that I ever bought into that bullshit. It was Strom’s hundredth birthday, I had downed a few single-malts. I was trying to be nice to the old fuck, so I said what a great president he would have been without really thinking about what he stood for at the time. It was a stupid thing to say, I don’t even KNOW what I meant about ‘all these problems,’ I was just talking out of my ass. I’m really, really sorry.” Then, hey, I think people would forgive and forget. There was no real self-flagellation in his speech, and I don’t think he’s going to salvage his reputation with black people. In fact, the Dems now have a convenient racist boogeyman running the senate, and a ready-made congressional election issue for '04. (vote Democrat, get rid of the racists) As a liberal , I think it’s actually better for the Dems to keep Lott where he is than to replace him with someone who would have integrity and not afford the opposition any political traction. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/122 "2002-12-14T16:37:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*And since Lott refuses to fill in that blank, he must live with the fact that a lot of people will and have assumed the worst. \*\* I don’t think this blank is hard to fill in. Lott said that Mississippians voted for Strom when he ran for president. And then he went on to say that if Strom had won we wouldn’t have a lot of the problems we have now. Strom ran on a platform of racial segregation between black and while. The connection closely resembles Jimmy Durante’s nose. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/123 "2002-12-14T19:15:11Z")
The knife in Trent Lott’s back has Karl Rove’s fingerprints all over it. The Pubbies have decided that the “Southern Strategy” has outlived its usefulness. There was a time when “conservative” meant racist in the context of being opposed to “liberal” pushes for civil rights, etc., but those days are long gone, racism of any stripe, covert or otherwise, is unacceptable to mainstream voters. The Pubbies figure they can dump the out and out racists and make up the difference with black voters. I suspect they’re probably right, and therein lies a triumph for an important liberal cause. It would have been nice if they had done so out of principle, rather than calculation. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/124 "2002-12-14T19:29:10Z")
That doesn’t make sense. The Republicans got only 9% of the Black vote. ---
**Author:** ![december](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/838e76/32.png) [@december](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/december)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/125 "2002-12-14T19:36:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*That doesn’t make sense. The Republicans got only 9% of the Black vote. \*\* Sure it does. There’s still 91% potentially available to them. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/126 "2002-12-14T19:39:30Z")
Well, it’s potentially available to the Libertarians, too. 😃 But I think you’re going to have to do a little more than a couple of symbolic gestures to turn yourselves around. Blacks aren’t gullible, you know. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/127 "2002-12-14T20:10:54Z")
**BREAKING NEWS ALERT** More outrageous comments: "“I should rather die a thousand times and see old glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen of the wilds.” Pretty vile stuff, right? Oh wait, that quote was from Sen. Robert Byrd, **D** -WV. Hmmm. The [cough] Senator has served as Senate Majority leader twice, from 1977-1980 and 1987-1988. When he was elected Senate Majority Leader the first time, did then President Carter (D-GA, for those keeping score at home), call for the Grand Keagle, I mean Sen. Byrd, to step down? He didn’t? Why not? ---
**Author:** ![hansel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6bbea6/32.png) [@hansel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hansel)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/128 "2002-12-14T20:14:20Z")
What’s your point, Milroyj? That Democrats can be racist, too? Has someone here denied that? ---
**Author:** ![Saen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Saen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/129 "2002-12-14T20:34:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bnorton \* > \*\*But what else could he _possibly_ have meant? I’d really like to know. In fact I think we’d all like to hear him say “I didn’t mean to suggest that I endorse segregation. What I meant was\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” Can you fill in the blank for us? \*\* [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,72828,00.html](http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,72828,00.html) > [@](#): > > SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER (via phone): First of all, I wanted to honor Strom Thurmond, the man, who was turning 100 years old. He certainly has been a legend in the Senate, both in terms of his service and the length of his service. It was certainly not intended to endorse his segregationist policies that he might have been advocating – or was advocating – 54 years ago. > > … > > LOTT: So, that was many, many years ago. When I think of Strom Thurmond, I’m talking about defense issues. If you look back at that time, which was 1948, defense was a big issue. We were coming out of the war, of course, but we also were dealing with Communism. And then in the 1980s, when I talked about Strom, again, we’re talking about the problem in Iran, talking about, you know, deficits over the years, strong law enforcement speeches. > > remember when I first got to the Senate one of the first speeches I ever heard Strom give was talking about the need to have stronger law enforcement to protect the people – all the people. I have a memory of Strom promoting economic development in South Carolina, as have others there in that state. Those are the kinds of things where we’ve had problems over the years with defense, budgets, law enforcement, you know, I think we could have done a better job. > > And by the way, Strom also over the years has repudiated some of the positions and has become very progressive in the things he’s advocated. In fact, he was one of the leaders in promoting additional funding for historical black colleges and universities, which I have also done, and will continue to do. > … > LOTT: Well, I’ve always, kidded Strom Thurmond about, you know, the kind of job he has done and what he has stood for and – it’s basically saying you would have made a great president. He lights up. He smiles at that. That’s the vein it was in. > > It was never intended to say because of the policies you were advocating in 1948. It’s because of a lifetime of service and things he has done. So that, again, is just, you know, what are you going to say, I wish you’d lost? It really is just because of a friendly relationship with Strom Thurmond. This overreacting is getting a bit boring. And the feeding frenzy is getting insulting. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/130 "2002-12-14T20:34:50Z")
No less an authority than the Washington Times tells us that [Byrd’s](http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20021011-807083.htm) letter to senator Bilbo dates to **1945**. That doesn’t qualify as “BREAKING” news to anyone but the most stick-in-the-mud reactionaries. The world, and Senator Byrd, have moved on since W.W.II. The question at hand is whether Trent Lott and his republican party have moved on as well. If not, **that’s** BREAKING NEWS. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/131 "2002-12-14T20:53:34Z")
Er, the Breaking News Alert was meant as a joke. After Lott’s comments at Thurmond’s b-day, and his first apology, some people couldn’t or wouldn’t accept said apology, so they dug around in Lott’s past. In 1980, he made a similiar statement. In 1960, he belonged to a racist fraternity. You know, trying to somehow establish a “pattern of racist comments/actions” on Lott’s part. I brought up the 1945 comment as further evidence of that pattern, again as a joke, since the '45 comment was from another Sen. Majority Leader, Sen. Byrd. My question at the end was a serious one, though. Back in 1977, was a great hoopla raised when Byrd became Majority Leader, because of his racist past? I was honestly wondering, as I was but a youngin, then. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/132 "2002-12-14T20:58:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*This doesn’t upset me. Christians are at heart hateful and narrow minded ignoramuses who derive self-worth from putting other people down. > > There’s a long history of it, and we can’t really expect better from them. \*\* Is this a blatantly bigoted statement, or am I missing the joke? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/133 "2002-12-14T22:00:11Z")
Thanks for the link, **Saen**. It looks like Hannity asked exactly the question I was asking: > [@](#): > > HANNITY: Well, maybe we can analyze a little by of this statement here when you said you voted for him and you’re proud of it. And if the rest of our country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over these years. What problems are you talking about? And what did you mean by “we’re proud of it”? Lott’s response, most of which you quoted, was probably as good as one could hope for under the circumstances. While this doesn’t change my view that Trent Lott is one of the biggest slimeballs of our time, it does seem that he has said all that he could possibly say on this matter. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/134 "2002-12-14T22:16:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*No less an authority than the Washington Times tells us that [Byrd’s](http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20021011-807083.htm) letter to senator Bilbo dates to **1945**. That doesn’t qualify as “BREAKING” news to anyone but the most stick-in-the-mud reactionaries. The world, and Senator Byrd, have moved on since W.W.II. The question at hand is whether Trent Lott and his republican party have moved on as well. If not, **that’s** BREAKING NEWS. \*\* Yeah, but it wasn’t very long ago that Byrd told us all about the “white niggers” that he knew. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/135 "2002-12-14T22:25:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TWDuke \* > \*\*Is this a blatantly bigoted statement, or am I missing the joke? \*\* Yes. It’s a mirror of Lib’s bigoted statement. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/136 "2002-12-14T22:27:03Z")
What statement have I made that is bigotted, Scylla? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@The\_Ace\_of\_Swords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ace_of_Swords)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/137 "2002-12-14T22:30:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TWDuke \* > \*\*Is this a blatantly bigoted statement, or am I missing the joke? \*\* Huh? What statement by Libertarian? Looks pretty blatantly bigoted to me. I wasn’t aware that Jesus was a hateful and narrowminded ignoramus, but as always we have **Scylla** to edify us. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/138 "2002-12-14T23:20:02Z")
The thing about the “Southern Strategy” is that its tricky. The Pubbies have to imply a covert sympathy with racists without actually being overt about it, nudge, nudge, wink wink. The appearance at Bob Jones U is a perfect example. It says “We’re really with you guys, but you know how that liberal media is, there are things we just can’t say…” And it has been very effective, up to a point. But the generation of bigots is passing now, there are less and less people that this ploy is effective on. At a certain point, the laws of diminishing returns begins to catch up. Apparently, Mr. Rove thinks that time has arrived. Also, there are, amazingly enough, some principled Pubbies who are mortified by the “Southern strategy”, by its cynicism and its appeal to the worst in us. They don’t want to be repesented by the likes of Trent Lott, and who can blame them. I rather doubt that Trent Lott is a racist in the narrow meaning of the term, I’m pretty sure that Mr. Lott doesn’t _think_ he’s a racist. Hence, I doubt very much that he had any intention of expressing support for segragationist policys. Might as well nail his pecker to a tree and set it on fire. That would have been political suicide. All in all, the piling on of Trent is a shrewd political move on the part of the Republicans, the Dems don’t want him gone, the prospect of the Pubs being represented by Tom DeLay and Trent Lott is music to thier ears. Like I said, the knife has Karl Rove’s fingerprints all over it, if he didn’t initiate it, he damn sure didn’t try and stop it. Bottom line: Trent Lott loses his leadership role, but he will not resign his seat and let a Dem Gov choose his replacement, he’s more likely to perform an appendectomy on his self with a sharpened spoon. Not saying such a result wouldn’t be a hoot. But it aint in the cards. ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/139 "2002-12-14T23:54:28Z")
This one Lib: > [@](#): > > He got into trouble for exposing the big Republican leadership “secret”. Though they woo minorities, they are at heart segregationists and bigots ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2002, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127/140 "2002-12-14T23:59:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\*The thing about the “Southern Strategy” is that its tricky. The Pubbies have to imply a covert sympathy with racists without actually being overt about it, nudge, nudge, wink wink. The appearance at Bob Jones U is a perfect example. It says “We’re really with you guys, but you know how that liberal media is, there are things we just can’t say…” \*\* WTF, man. Are you just making this shit up as you go along? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trent-lott/142127.md?page=8)