Again, everyone in Washington have their underwear in a knot over whether or not Senator Trent Lott should for be forgiven for the politically incorrect remark he made at late-Senator Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday celebration.
His remark is indicative of Mr. Lott's attitude toward racial equity, "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."
This comment may have been of-the-cuff explained away as a spur of the moment remark, but there are other aspects in Senator Lott's past which have been ignored both in his ascendance to Senate Majority Leader to now and his new Senate post as Republican minority whip.
In S. Res. 161 Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)introduced a resolution on behalf of himself and Senator Trent Lott seeking senate approval that the desk used by General Jefferson Davis be the desk of Mr. Lott " for use in carrying out his or duties during that Senator's term of office." (S. RES 161, 104TH session) By this resolution, particularly occurring during his tenure as Majority Leader, leads one to the conclusion that Davis is Lott's hero. Senator Lott as a congressman ALSO voted against renewal of the Voting Rights Act and opposed the Martin Luther King holiday.
We are all aware that Mr. Davis was the one and only President of the Confederate States of America . He was pro-slavery and "states rights."
This fact in and of itself indicates Mr. Lott's philosophy than the Senator's inadvertent gaffe at Sen. Thurmond's birthday celebration.
Additionally, Senator Lott has also addressed the Council of Conservatives of Citizens. The successor organization to the Ku Klux Klan. It is widely known as the "white-collar Klan." The group is defined as a hate group by several watch-dog organizations.
Mr. Lott as well as former-Congressman Bob Barr feigned ignorance regarding the groups goals and objectives as descried in their Manifesto:
* We believe the United States is a Christian country.
* We believe the United States is a European country and that Americans are part of the European people. ... should remain European in their composition and character... We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind,
* ... We therefore oppose the "imperial judiciary" in the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal courts that has usurped more and more power to itself in the last century and has imposed on our country the most odious and harmful rulings.
* ...We also oppose all such legislation as so-called "hate crime" or "bias crime" laws. Such laws merely penalize thought and expression rather than genuinely criminal action and are a dangerous and frightening step toward government Thought Control.
* The traditional family is the basic unit of human society
* Cultural, national, and racial integrity.
* Traditional Education under Local Control.... not brainwash children with political propaganda or "liberate" them from the traditional values and loyalties... oppose all "sex education" as well as so-called "multiculturalist" and "Afrocentric" curricula...
This is a précis of the groups Manifesto. As someone who has been an elected official representing the people of Mississippi for thirty-three years it is the height of disingenuousness for Senator Lott to maintain he has no knowledge that the Council of Conservative Citizens is an extremist hate group.
Furthermore, the introduction of a Senate Resolution to specifically request the desk used by, not only a segregationist, the President of the Confederacy is a crystal clear action that Sen. Lott believes the South should have been victorious in the Civil War. This belief is reinforced by Senate Lott's attendance and speech to this group.
By his election as Republican minority whip is the GOP sending a signal to extremist organizations that they have a place within the GOP? The rehabilitation of Senator Lott resolves this question. It also illustrates that the so-called "Big Tent" of the Republican Party is a lie.