I think that politically, Lott has screwed the pooch. He's been toe-dancing around cuddling up to groups like the CCC (The Conservative Christian Council...or Council of Conservative Christians, whatever...they're knuckleheads) and now he drops this bomb.
Fact is, nobody but Trent Lott "knows" what Trent Lott meant...he perhaps was worked up got all emotional, made an ill-advised statement, there ya go. Whatever he "meant," I'm sure he was saying "D'OH!" to himself right afterwards. I will say that much more is being made of this than it warrants. Not that I'm surprised; politicians pray for little windfalls like this, and a high-powered Republican Senator making a gaffe like that is pure gold. Especially when the Republican's lone black Senator that I'm aware of and the two or three stridently conservative black op-ed guys who actually get air time are backing away from him from like he has lethal halitosis. The Republican Party, I sincerely doubt, is going to close ranks with this guy and alienate their black voters-- they all might pile into a VW Bug and drive straight to the White House and give Bush what-for (I kid the Repub's 'cuz I voted for 'em...
).
Whatever is right, wrong, or fair-- Lott has stepped in it big time, and he'll hard a helluva time scraping THIS off his shoe.
Maybe Sen. Lott is, at his core, an absolute racist swamp-running cracker who laments the day the colored folk got to drink from the same water fountain as himself. Maybe ex-Sen. Thurmond is the same way. Maybe the
don't belong in high positions of elected office (well, we don't need to worry about Strom anymore, but you get my drift)...well, here's the kicker gang: they were elected. Wanna be upset? Be upset with the voters in Mississippi who keep electing that twink into the Senate.
[ 12-15-2002, 11:57 PM: Message edited by: Gregster ]