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Much Ado About Thurmond
By Mike Bayham
December 16, 2002

December 5th marked the 100th birthday of the first member of Congress to ever make it to three digits while in office. Instead of a day of celebration, it will be remembered as one of infamy for incoming Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott, who in his litany of praises concerning Thurmond's political career also added favorable comments about the Palmetto State native's presidential challenge to Harry Truman in 1948.

For a brief time the story remained relatively dormant until two of the Democratic Party's most nefarious professional protesters, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, decided to make Mount Everest out of a molehill. Even the normally fiercely partisan Tom Daschle, in a rare show of good judgment and reason, had initially excused Lott's comments as being lighthearted. But unfortunately for Daschle, there were members of his party who smelled an opportunity to tarnish some of the GOP's gleam after their midterm election victory and the South Dakotan was forced into recanting his passive commentary on Lott's remarks.

Regardless of what obscure quotes newspapers, or the Democratic party hacks that are tracking them down and then feeding them to the media, find on Lott that somehow link him to a time and era when the Mississippi Senator was dealing with timetables and watching Howdy Doody, it is obvious that this whole matter has been blown out of proportion.

Because of his age and his long presence in politics, Thurmond cannot help but be linked to policies that would be considered unsavory by today's standards. Almost every president of the United States prior to Truman could be viewed as someone who is nothing short of a bigot according to our current societal view. One example in particular is Woodrow Wilson, who was considered one of the most prejudiced men to ever occupy the Oval Office by his own chief of staff, yet he is often lionized by liberals as one of the greatest Democratic presidents ever.

Al Gore Senior, father of the 2000 Democratic Presidential nominee and a longtime US Senator from Tennessee, had voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination in employment and public accommodations, yet I am sure his son wished that he had been able to succeed in his dream to win the presidency.

Richard Russell, the voice of the Democratic South in the immediate post-Roosevelt era, was an unapologetic segregationist and was one of the leaders of the filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 though one of the US Senate office buildings is named after the Georgia statesman. Thurmond was a teenager when Wilson was president and was a colleague of both Russell and Gore.

Even though most Americans regret the racial policies of the past, Thurmond cannot change his past. However, Thurmond's positions on race did change with the new societal climate in America. Later on Thurmond became one of the first southern US Senators to hire black staffers. In fact, it is Thurmond's legendary constituent services to all South Carolinians, black and white, that has kept him in office so long.

I believe that the masters of propaganda themselves, the Democrats, have once again "ringmastered" a negative media circus for the GOP by engaging in racial hyperbole by distorting the meaning and intent of Trent Lott's comments while also embellishing their impact on American society. The claims of some pols how Lott's comments personally hurt the nation are ludicrous... and I should know because I checked.

Having spent the most of Sunday in New Orleans, which is majority black, I can honestly report that I did not encounter a single soul lamenting over the words of Trent Lott though there were many expressing their disdain over the Saints' loss to the Vikings. Alan Greenspan's comments move mountains, not Trent Lott's.

Republicans once again have played into the hands of the Democrats by failing to "hold the line." Republicans have shown that aside from their platform, their other major difference from the Democrats is a lack of courage. When President Clinton was on the brink of impeachment, over 90% of the Democratic congressional contingent publicly rallied behind the president under the guise of defending him from ridiculous, partisan charges by a political faction primarily bent on embarrassing their leader (see the great white Right Wing Conspiracy of 1998-1999).

Take away the perjury, the cigar and the fellatio, and switch the parties and you have the same thing the Democrats had accused the Republicans of doing during the impeachment trial. I am still trying to figure out if the Democrats are really smart or if the Republicans are just stupid.

There are also Cassius minded Republican US Senators who are engaging in intrigue against Lott. US Senator Don Nickles, almost as every bit the opportunist as the Jackson-Sharpton tandem, has already called for Lott's ouster. It should not be lost on anyone that Nickles is vacating his whip position in the US Senate and has made no secret about his coveting of Lott's post. While Nickles sees this as a great chance to get ahead, his actions will have negative ramifications on the party as a whole by implying that Lott's comments were as serious and villainous as Democratic partisans have claimed.

Nickles might very well be putting a bottle of nitroglycerine in a paint can shaker since it has been said by some insiders that Lott has issued a private ultimatum concerning his leadership post: if the White House and the Republican caucus walks out on him, then he is walking out of the US Senate.

Now I for one have a hard time believing that Lott is going to abandon his seat in the US Senate regardless if he is Majority Leader, but one should consider the consequences if he were to retire. Mississippi has a Democratic governor that would likely appoint a member of his own party to fill the vacancy putting the Republicans and the Democrats at a 50-50 split thus restarting the "switch watch" on Lincoln Chafee and John McCain.

No matter what happens with Lott's tenure as Majority Leader, this whole affair has been a nightmare for the Republican Party and it is only going to get worse from here. For one, Lott will needlessly be known as a racist for the rest of his political career and has become the Gingrich "bogeyman" the Democrats will use to scare their ethnic voters and motivate their base constituency come election time.

Secondly, in order to give every appearance that the GOP is not a bastion of racism, Republicans, from the White House to the Congress, will sign off on programs that they would normally vote against with good reason. The Democrats should enjoy the irony of the thought of the GOP delivering for them the funding for these expenditures without even having to ask while at the same time keeping their inner city bloc vote loyal to the Democratic ticket.

Third, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will be able to celebrate the fact that they have inflicted a serious political blow to the GOP and will be even more inclined to loudly cry "racist" at the drop of a hat knowing that Republicans will be catatonic at their very utterance. You would think this duo, who pass themselves off as Christian ministers, would ever stop and remember Jesus' teachings about forgiveness. But alas, one cannot have two masters, with theirs obviously being mammon and vanity.

Fourth, Strom Thurmond, a man whose life including his service in the military and politics has been nothing short of remarkable, will exit the Congress on an unfortunately sour note. Thurmond has been a lot of things in his life with some of his more positive traits being a role model for elderly people who wish to remain in the work force and for "whippersnappers" who seek elected office at a young age. In addition to being famous for holding office at 100, Thurmond was also a trailblazer on the opposite end of the age spectrum when he was first elected to office in his twenties. The real story about Thurmond is how he had such a healthy lifestyle that he was able to see 100, not what he did in 1948, which is literally yesterday's news.

And finally, the First Amendment and the "politics of reality" are also casualties of this Democratic sponsored, Republican endorsed escapade. If the local sheriff's office was as fervent and forceful as our country's self-deputized "thought police," violent crime would be a thing of the past. We have once again seen how a simple statement at a social event can nearly topple a major political figure from office and define the public debate.

Though what Trent Lott said was not illegal, I am sure that he has endured more stress and anguish than a week long incarceration could have ever done to him. The person who has truly suffered the most for the lighthearted statements on Thurmond's career was a white guy, Lott, who saw his leadership post in the US Senate needlessly jeopardized by his effusiveness. The shame of all of this is that the real problems that confront this nation have taken a back seat to this trivial episode which is yet another sign that the tail can indeed wag the dog.