Trouble for Lott

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(I checked on the group mentioned in this article, the Council fof Concerned Citizens, and it's pretty hard-core white supremacist.)

Black Lawmakers, Democrats Blast Senate GOP Leader Over Comment

By Linda Douglass and Ed O'Keefe ABCNEWS.com

W A S H I N G T O N, Dec. 10 — The Senate's once and future majority leader — Republican Trent Lott of Mississippi — is under attack for comments he made honoring a longtime colleague. Lott has apologized, but accusations are growing that the GOP leader revealed some racist sentiments.

Print This Page Email This Page See Most Sent • Some Saudi Schools Teach Students to Hate U.S. • Kids Try to Tame Aggressive Sports Parents • Trekkies Unfairly Singled Out for Their Fanaticism MORE ON THIS STORY COMMUNITY • Was Lott Being Racist With Comments? At the 100th birthday party of South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond last Thursday, Lott boasted that his state of Mississippi backed Thurmond for president 54 years ago.

"When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him," Lott told those gathered at the Capitol Hill celebration. "We are proud of it."

To that, the jovial invitation-only crowd of Republican supporters applauded and laughed.

Then Lott continued, "If the rest of the country followed our lead we wouldn't have had all these problems."

The room went virtually silent and some in the audience gasped.

In 1948, Thurmond ran as a self-described "Dixiecrat" on a segregationist platform. In his campaign, Thurmond vowed that "all the laws of Washington and the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches ..."

Thurmond garnered the 39 electoral votes of South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. He later recanted his segregationist views.

‘Chilling Message’ and an Apology

Civil rights groups are outraged by Lott's comment. "It sends a chilling message to all people," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., incoming chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

And today the NAACP demanded Lott resign as majority leader, calling his remarks blatant bigotry. "I think that's about as racist as you can get," said NAACP Executive Director Kwesi Mfume.

In a statement released late Monday, Lott apologized.

Expanding on a previous, two-line statement, it read: "A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embrace the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my statement."

But many critics are not satisfied. They point to Lott's recent ties to a group described by some as a white supremicist, the Council of Conservative Citizens.

And some prominent Democrats don't believe Lott misspoke at Thurmond's centennial birthday.

"I understand that Senator Lott has made an apology, and he can apologize all he wants. It doesn't remove the sentiment that escaped his mouth that day at that party," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the newly elected House minority leader.

Former Vice President Al Gore, who is considering another run for the White House, said on CNN: "The statement was a racist statement ... I think it is good that he has apologized for it."

And after initially saying he understood how Lott could have verbally slipped at a microphone, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle took a tougher stance today. "Regardless of how he intended his statement to be interpreted, it was wrong to say it and I strongly disagree with it," said the South Dakota lawmaker.

Conservatives Share Concerns

More worrisome for Lott is the reaction from some conservatives. "I think it was racially ignorant," said Robert P. George, an African-American syndicated columnist who writes from a conservative perspective. "It was historically ignorant and racially ignorant."

Conservative writers say Lott has damaged the Republican Party's efforts to reach out to black voters. But outgoing Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts, Congress's only black Republican, is giving Lott the benefit of the doubt.

"He went too far and I think he realizes that and I think that's why he apologized," Watts said.

In the Senate, an institution based on personal relationships, senators of both parties say they accept his apology. Lott himself still has not explained what he meant by his remarks.

Standing squarely behind Lott is the White House. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said Lott's apology "speaks for itself on this matter. … The president has confidence in him as a Republican leader unquestionably."

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2002


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