Trent Lott:
"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."Now, I doubt Trent Lott spent his days walking around wildly hating black people. I doubt he was a flat-out racist; I do not know him. But judging from this comment above, he did obviously recognize that the kind of country that Strom Thurmond had wanted was one that would, while sucking for a lot of other people, really benefit TRENT LOTT. As I wrote last year about slavery HERE - life is dog eat dog enough, and if you can systematically remove an entire group of people from competing against you, well, hey, that helps you, all the rest be damned.
For instance, while obviously hideously MORALLY wrong, one can understand why it would be ADVANTAGEOUS to have slaves. I promise you there were people that were bothered by the idea of slavery, but took advantage of being able to have (relatively) free labor in an agrarian economy. At least there could be an argument "yeah slavery is bad, but it sure helps us, don't it?" As wrong as it is, at least there is an advantage gained economically. Same with civil rights a century after the slaves were freed; sure it was WRONG to keep black people out of the "good ol' boys club," but it sure could come in handy for a white guy, couldn't it? Every black person was one less person to REALLY have to compete with in society; be it a job, school, etc. Again: wrong, but VERY handy. Babe Ruth playing in a league that didn't allow black people to play HELPED BABE RUTH; not allowing, say, Martians, wouldn't have made much of a difference.
That's a kind of system Trent Lott wanted. Which seems grossly not similar to what Harry Reid said.
3 comments:
Personally, I don't have a problem with what Reid said. If we're going to be honest, we have to admit that many of us who supported the current president during the campaign--especially those of us who are people of color--at one point or another brought up exactly what Reid did, if not in the same indelicate and anachronistic way. We felt that if there was going to be a black president, even with his outstanding qualifications, the fact that Barack Obama is light skinned and well-spoken was definitely a plus. That's not a racist a comment, but one that makes clear we live in a race-conscious society; one in which lighter skinned-blacks and Hispanics have traditionally received better treatment than other minorities of a darker hue.
The GOP has been raising a stink about this Reid thing. Frankly, I'm not surprised by the hypocrisy of a party whose policies when in power have done little or, worse yet, obstructed every major step to help minorities of any color. (And white people on the bottom rung of society, as well.) Why would those who blatantly use the horrible tragedy of Sept 11th for political gain not try to make hay out of this, too?
Perhaps Reid's statement may have been perceived a tad differently by Democrats and similar thinking folks if it had come from a Republican--I probably would of just rolled my eyes--due to both perception and their policies over the years, but it wouldn't have made it any more racist, which, as opposed to Lott's Thurmond comments, I don't believe it was.
What Lott said was mild, at an old man's birthday party, and at worst silly. Chris Dodd made the same sort of tribute to former kleagle Robert Byrd on the Senate floor, stating that Byrd would have been a great senator and leader at any time in history, including the Civil War. Byrd, by the way, also opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Both comments were nothings, throwaways, small potatoes.
Lott was pilloried. Dodd was excused.
Reid said something similarly mild and despite GOP attempts to play gotcha', he too will be excused.
Why? Two reasons.
First, Reid is right, just as Clinton was right when he said Obama normally would be getting him coffee. Obama is Palin minus the jugs and at the time of the campaign, he was even more of a political plebe. But who are we kidding? If Obama came in a street package instead of Theo Huxtable, he'd have no chance. That's the gist of Reid's comment.
Second, because the race card is a club that is near exclusively used in the hands of Democrats. Democrats seed the lawn of minority groups and are thus generally immunized from allegations of racism.
For Xmastime to make a distinction is yet more evidence that he seeks to become an even more slavish apparatchik after Year One of Our Dark Lord.
oh, dont you mean "light-skinned" Lord??!!?!?
RACIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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