Bush officials have taken a powerful stance once again and have said, quite explicitly, that the President will remain fiercely and “deliberately vague, huh,” according to a White House official. Of course they’re going to remain vague on Sen. Trent Lott’s racist comments. And of course they want the Lott issue to be resolved quickly. He’s stealing headlines. And Bush wants his impending war (which happens to be losing public support) back in the headlines.
I’m bummed that I missed Lott on Black Entertainment Television last night. It would’ve been fun to see him make a fool of himself, trying to make ammends with the brothers and sisters about his recent comments commending the one man who voted against the 1957 Civil Rights movement — none other than the ancient Strom Thurmond, of course, who’s currently 3,154,146,897 seconds old. That’s more than 3 billion seconds — or 36,506.3304 days old. That’s a lot of days on this earth. Way too many. He certainly epitomizes the Stupid White Men who run this country.
On the flip side, Emil Guillermo has an interesting piece in today’s Chronicle in support of Lott. Guillermo argues that Lott’s comments at Thurmond’s 100th birthday party were just honest and have started the country speaking about race again for the first time since the O.J. trial.
I agree that the debate is good. But sorry, Guillermo, the path to good debate is not to keep a racist in power who, of course, acts completely apologetic on the facade and claims that he believes all men are equal, but actions speak louder than words, my friend. Lott’s was the sole vote against Bush’s nomination for a black judge last year. He voted against extending the Voting Rights Act in the ’80s.
Let’s give this asshole the boot on January 6, like someone should have done to Thurmond long ago.
