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Hypocrisy and the GOP...
May. 10th, 2007 08:33 pmI keep seeing people tossing out accusations of hypocrisy at Democrats in general - a claim that they're guilty of double standards. Ironically, as often as not, the way in which the accusations get made reveal a double standard on the part of the accuser.
Seems like, about as often as not, they're talking about Trent Lott's praise of Strom Thurmond a few years back. "He was just trying to be nice about a friend," they'll say about Lott, then move on to "but what about Robert Byrd? He used to be a Klansman! I know he's not anymore, and he regrets ever being involved with them, so how dare you say anything bad about Trent Lott?"
Well, it's like this: Lott was not just trying to be nice. He was saying that if Thurmond had been elected President, we wouldn't have all our current racial problems. And in case you either never knew, or forgot, what party Thurmond was running on the platform for? It was the Dixiecrats. These were the people who left the Democratic party when Truman started supporting civil rights for blacks, whose party platform was almost entirely devoted to the issue of preserving racial segregation.
That's right, Trent Lott was saying that if we'd elected somebody as President who was running on a platform of segregation, now, today and forever, "we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either".
Meanwhile, here's what Byrd had to say about the fact that he was a KKK member: "I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times . . . and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened."
Has Lott ever made even a halfassed apology for saying we should have elected a Dixiecrat President? I'm just sayin'.
Seems like, about as often as not, they're talking about Trent Lott's praise of Strom Thurmond a few years back. "He was just trying to be nice about a friend," they'll say about Lott, then move on to "but what about Robert Byrd? He used to be a Klansman! I know he's not anymore, and he regrets ever being involved with them, so how dare you say anything bad about Trent Lott?"
Well, it's like this: Lott was not just trying to be nice. He was saying that if Thurmond had been elected President, we wouldn't have all our current racial problems. And in case you either never knew, or forgot, what party Thurmond was running on the platform for? It was the Dixiecrats. These were the people who left the Democratic party when Truman started supporting civil rights for blacks, whose party platform was almost entirely devoted to the issue of preserving racial segregation.
That's right, Trent Lott was saying that if we'd elected somebody as President who was running on a platform of segregation, now, today and forever, "we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either".
Meanwhile, here's what Byrd had to say about the fact that he was a KKK member: "I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times . . . and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened."
Has Lott ever made even a halfassed apology for saying we should have elected a Dixiecrat President? I'm just sayin'.
