Times Makes Stuff Up

The Moonie Times, that is:

Hezbollah story likely 'invented'
The furor over the importance that a media article that allegedly contained "invented" remarks from a Hezbollah leader, and the role it played in Canada's decision to ban the Lebanese group, continued to grow on Thursday.

On Wednesday Canada outlawed both the military and social wings of Hezbollah. As the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports, "it was an abrupt about-face for the foreign affairs minister, Bill Graham, who has argued the social arm of the organization is a legitimate charity."

Apparently one of the key factors in Mr. Graham's decision to add the group to the list of terrorist organizations banned by Ottawa was a US media report quoting Hezbollah's leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, urging Palestinians to expand their suicide bombings worldwide. The US story had been widely covered in the Canadian media.

Only one problem. It now seems the Sheik never made the remarks. On its Wednesday night (Dec. 11) national TV news broadcast, the CBC alleged "pro-Israeli" freelance reporter Paul Martin "likely invented the remarks."

There is no record of such a speech here, and there would be. It was not broadcast on Hezbollah's television station, as was reported. Hezbollah, which vigorously publicizes Nasrallah's every word, says the remarks were never uttered and the Canadian embassy in Beirut has tried and failed to document the quotes. The story originated not in the Middle East but in London, with this man. Paul Martin freelances for "The Washington Times," a right wing newspaper owned by the Unification Church. He cannot back up the quotes his story attributes to Nasrallah.

Here's how the founder/president of The League of the South, of which Washington Times Assistant National Editor Robert Stacy McCain is a member, responds to the Lott affair.

The uproar surrounding the recent comments by Mississippi Senator (and former Ole Miss cheerleader) Trent Lott provides us an opportunity to examine the phenomenon known as Cultural Marxism (C.M.), more commonly called “Political Correctness” (P.C.).

How does one determine if he (he/she?) is a Cultural Marxist? Here are a few examples


1. 1. First, in keeping with the topic of Senator (and former Ole Miss cheerleader) Lott’s praise for Strom Thurmond’s 1948 Dixiecrat Presidential bid, you believe that state-enforced segregation is “immoral” (to use President G. W. Bush’s term) while holding that state-enforced integration is OK.

..

3. You believe in the equality of the sexes and that traditional sex roles for men and women are wrong; furthermore, you decry patriarchy as evil.

...
14. You believe that slavery is evil.
...

If America (and the South) is still Christian, we all should have no trouble in letting those alien body snatchers know who’s boss. To that effect, let us all go out onto our front lawns and loudly recite the following truths until we have banished the invaders from our turf:

14. And here we go, all you Confederate Southrons-Slavery is an institution ordained of God and regulated by His Word! It is not therefore “evil!”

Hey Josh, it's Crisco Johnnie.

FAIR was on it before his confirmation.

Josh cuts off the first line of the quote, which is important. [oops, either I'm blind or after I posted this Marshall added a bit more of the interview to his post ] Here's a full version:

" Your magazine also helps set the record straight. You've got a heritage of doing that, of defending Southern patriots like [Robert E.] Lee, [Stonewall] Jackson and [Confederate President Jefferson] Davis. Traditionalists must do more. I've got to do more. We've all got to stand up and speak in this respect, or else we'll be taught that these people were giving their lives, subscribing their sacred fortunes and their honor to some perverted agenda."

(emphasis mine)


And, here are some examples of how the magazine sets the record straight:

On John Wilkes Booth: "His behavior was not only sane, but sensible. His background, loyalties, beliefs, and experiences had led him to that end."
--Mark Brewer, Second Quarter/1990

For years Southern Partisan has celebrated the murder of Abraham Lincoln by selling T-shirts with Lincoln's image over the words "sic semper tyrannis" ("thus always to tyrants")-- John Wilkes Booth's cry just after shooting Lincoln. Timothy McVeigh was wearing this T-shirt when he was arrested for the Oklahoma City bombing. (To see a photo of the shirt, click here.)
New York Times, 6/3/1997

Feminism is a "revolt against god."
--First Quarter/2000

"Feminists, ethnic minorities, sodomites and other 'victims' of majority culture are demanding special recognition and privileged status."
--Second Quarter/1992

"The acts of sodomy are probably the most repulsive desecrations in the sexual order.... The terrible swift sword of the dread AIDS disease is surely what in other ages would be acknowledged a sign of God's wrath. It is only the least subtle notice of divine displeasure with the swinishness of our age."

--Reid Buckley, Winter/1986



"Newly arrived in New York City, I puzzled, 'Where are the Americans?' for I met only Italians, Jews, Puerto Ricans."

--Patrick Brophy, Second Quarter/1991

"The tides of immigration turned negative: were characterized by the losers of political history...the Italians and the Irish... the dull-spirited and pagan, such as the Scandinavians... and by peoples to whom the tenets of our republic were altogether alien, such as the hieratic Jews....

"Negroes, Asians and Orientals (is Japan the exception?); Hispanics, Latins and Eastern Europeans; have no temperament for democracy, never had, and probably never will...

"As the genetic racial pool in the United States from which the democratic government originally derived is dissipated in successive tides of immigration, our country is being overwhelmed."
--Reid Buckley, Summer/1984



there's more at the link.


We sure heard about this stuff from the liberal media didn't we. Here's how Ashcroft dealt with these questions at his hearings:

Given several chances to explicitly distance himself from Southern Partisan, Ashcroft declined, saying carefully, "I condemn those things which are condemnable." When asked directly whether he thought the magazine was racist, he said, "I should probably do more due diligence on it. I know they've been accused of being racist.... I would rather be falsely accused of being a racist than to falsely accuse someone of being a racist."

Biden suggested that Ashcroft must have been briefed on the content of the magazine for the confirmation hearings, given that his association with it was an obvious topic to come up. Ashcroft responded, "I don't want to be disrespectful, but for you to suggest that I was told that all these things that you've alleged are true, I wasn't told that. And, frankly, I have been told that some of them aren't true.... And I don't know the source of your things."

Some comments from Jesse Jackson Jr.

Yes, I'm deeply concerned about the words expressed by Senator Lott at Strom Thurmond's birthday party. But I'm even more concerned about the words he used to EXPLAIN them. He said he wasn't praising Senator Thurmond's past racial stance, but he liked his commitment to a "strong defense" and his "fiscal conservatism."

Before the Civil War the Democratic slave masters used to have anti-black conventions where they called us "out-our-names." But after the Civil War, when they had lost power and were trying to get it back, they knew they had to change their language. So instead of holding anti-black conventions, the same former Democratic slave masters had anti-taxpayer conventions - since they were being taxed to pay for the new freedmen's education, health care, and housing. They were known as fiscal conservatives, and they called the Radical Republicans of that day - who were supporting such programs - "tax and spend liberals." That's the origin of the phrase!

If I were a Republican senator, I'd be pretty annoyed at tantrum-boy.

By Friday, tensions between the White House and Lott had grown. Sources say Lott made clear that if he were forced to step down from the Senate leadership, he would also likely resign his Senate seat, a significant development because Mississippi's current governor, Ronnie Musgrove, is a Democrat. He would appoint a replacement for Lott, presumably a Democrat, leaving the Republicans with a precarious one-seat margin.

obviously Lott is putting the interests of the party ahead of himself.

Ha Ha

WOODRUFF: And, finally, as we know, Democrats have had plenty of harsh words about Trent Lott's remarks at Strom Thurmond's birthday party. But Bill Clinton got in a more light-hearted dig.

Our Jonathan Karl reports that the former president offered this line at a benefit last night at the Robert Kennedy Memorial -- quote. Mr. Clinton, he said: "When Robert Kennedy ran for president, we supported him. We're proud of it. And if he had lived and been elected, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."

Well, that's it for INSIDE POLITICS. I'm Judy Woodruff.

Since the first thing on Lott's list of things to do in support of the Confederacy is to bring back Judge Pickering from the dead, here's what PFAW has to say about Pickering.

Eschaton Assignment Desk

Okay, journalists, now is your chance. You have the hook. How about writing some features on the Council for National Policy, to which Bush gave an address in October 1999.

Who knew that when you get a link from Mickey Kaus only about 50 people click through? Maybe Howie Kurtz is the only one who reads that guy.


Roger Ailes speaks, Mickey obeys.

Scoobie Davis led me to seek out this comment in the transcript of Lott's press conference:

When you're from Mississippi and when you are Republican leader, you got an extra burden to make sure you think about every word and every phrase so that it doesn't convey the wrong impression or hurt people. And so, while I was, you know, surprised because I was just into the event, I still have caused a major problem, and I want to get over that.

As Andy would say, this guy still doesn't get it.

Agenda Bender says, in effect, a bigot is a bigot regardless of the target. So, stop heaping praise on "enlightened" paleocons who bash Trent on one day and write about the homosexual threat another.

Some people have quibbled with my post about State's Rights below. Look - as I thought I made clear I wasn't arguing about the issue of "states rights" - we can have a debate about the appropriate power of the federal government another day - nor was I calling for the phrase to be expunged from the English language. I'm just saying that from certain speakers - and to certain audiences - the phrase is a code phrase. I don't think everyone who utters that phrase today is attempting to invoke the code, or that everyone who uses it gets on my 'closet bigot' list. Remember, the Dixiecrat Party was actually the Democratic States Rights Party. Here is their platform. As Rush always reminds us, words have meaning, and when Reagan launched his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi and used the phrase 'states rights' his meaning was crystal clear.

Just in case anyone was wondering

I mean, for many years I'd go up to Senator Thurmond -- some of you know where he sits there on the floor, and, you know, we've had -- I'd kid with him and say, "Strom, you'd have made a great president." And he always looked up and smiled big. And it was just that kind of a, you know, platonic , almost father/son relationship that we had.

Thanks for clearing that up, Trent.

Gotta love Mr. Derbyshire.

Pat Buchanan says:

But the bleating of sheep only excites the gathering wolves, and the clamor grows for a full grovel, or resignation. What we are witnessing is the lynching of a good man who made a bad choice of words in a birthday tribute to an old man whose sins are no more scarlet than those of the rest of us. It stinks to heaven, but it is what passes for morality in Washington.

Talk about a bad choice of words, Pat. No one is lynching Trent Lott. THis is a lynching you bastard:



(Was on my way out the door yesterday when I posted this and forgot to mention that Sam Heldman brought the Buchanan article to my attention)

John Podhoretz likes me!

Hesiod notes that Don Nickles is an unapologetic homophobe. Is this who the Republican have waiting in the wings? Is this who the libertarian wing of the Republican party supports? If not, who the hell would they support to replace Lott?

WASHINGTON — Oklahoma Republican Senator Don Nickles latest comments confirm that anti-gay bias is the sole reason why the United States Senate has been denied the opportunity to vote on James Hormel's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay
political organization.

"Mr. Hormel deserves a vote. Senator Nickles' and Senator Lott's comments clearly prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that discrimination is the only reason why the nomination is stalled. Mr. Hormel has the bi-partisan support of more than 60 senators who reject the smear campaign being put forth by anti-gay activists," said HRC Political Director Winnie Stachelberg.

On "Fox News Sunday" Senator Nickles tried to justify his discrimination by saying of Mr. Hormel, "He has promoted a lifestyle and promoted it in a big way, in a way that is very offensive. One might have that lifestyle, but if one promotes it as acceptable behavior, I don't think they should be a representative of this country. I think it's immoral behavior and I think a lot of other behavior is immoral and shouldn't be treated as acceptable behavior."

"Senator Nickles is entitled to live his life and vote as his conscience dictates. However, he has no business in a free country dictating his conscience to other senators. To use his personal religious beliefs to deny due process and keep other senators from voting according to their beliefs is a mockery of democracy," said HRC Communications Director and Senior Strategist David M. Smith.

In Monday's edition of the New York Times, Luxembourg's Ambassador to the United States, Alphonse Berns, said, "We would welcome Mr. Hormel." Additionally, discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation is illegal in Luxembourg, as it is in all European Union countries.

Is this who should be leading our Senate? Somone promoting a lifestyle of bigotry and discrimination?

Bob Boudelang weighs in.

"For us to be continued to be wedded to it [the Democratic Party] because of events that took place after the War Between the States, the War of Aggression..." - Trent Lott.

Roger Ailes gives the timeline of a scandal.

4:30 press conference from Trent. Ah, right before the weekend...

Haha, it looks like Ben Shapiro has a good buddy at Harvard. Kudos to his co-editors of the conservative newspaper who resigned over it.

Well, while everyone throws around Don Nickles name, why don't some eager researchers check out his connections to that haven for Christian Reconstructionists and slavery apologists, the Council for National Policy. It seems to be where the plutocrats and the theocrats come together...

Nothing to see here, move along...

BELLEVILLE -- The Belleville News-Democrat has run two stories this week concerning "enforcement teams" consisting of area police teaming with housing inspectors, who are entering homes unannounced, and ticketing people who refuse to allow
inspection.

A story that ran on Sunday of this week entitled,"Subject to Inspection" outlines a trend which is disturbing both conservatives and liberals, questioning a complete disregard for the 4th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Belleville News-Democrat found:

• At least four times, the police-compliance officer teams have been accused of simply walking into houses unannounced without knocking first.

• A dozen times when people refused to let the officials in without first seeing a warrant, they were charged with obstruction or interfering with a health officer, despite a 1967 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it is unconstitutional to arrest someone who doesn't allow a
search without a warrant.

• Fifty-seven percent of those cited for occupancy code violations were white, while 43 percent were black. Belleville's black population is 15.5 percent, according to the 2000 Census.

• The Police Department has taken advantage of the housing inspections, the records show. In at least 10 cases, the housing inspections gave police an easy way into homes to search for drugs.

On Tuesday of these week, a follow-up story revealed more details.

Will Jordan, executive director of the nonprofit Equal Housing Opportunity Council told the Belleville News-Democrat said he would ask prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office in Fairview Heights to contact the U.S. Justice Department to consider looking into how Belleville enforces its
occupancy laws.

The newspaper quoted Belleville Police Chief Terry Delaney as saying, "Enforcing the city's overcrowding laws by inspecting homes without getting a search warrant and ticketing residents who do not allow searches will continue."

(don't worry, this isn't going to be a trembling piece about my awesomely powerful RawMuscleBlogs)


When I first posted on the Lott story I assumed it would completely die. Why? Because I figured the usual suspects would make the usual around of apologetic statements. They would argue that what Lott was praising was 'States' Rights' and that was a GOOD thing and it was wrong to read anything into it other than Lott's support for "limited federal government" and what was wrong with that and you're racist for saying otherwise so SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP YOU STUPID BIG GOVERNMENT RACIST JESSE JACKSON AL SHARPTON LOVING LIEBERAL!!!

Which is what happened the last time Lott stepped into this particular minefield.

What I hope comes out of this is the recognition and understanding that when a politician in the south goes on about "states' rights" they are speaking in code that is well understood by a portion of the electorate -black and white. I don't mean that all supporters of federalism are objectively pro-segregation (Very big of me, no?), just that in certain contexts and from certain people the use of that phrase and related ones is nothing more than a big "FUCK YOU" to the black population. They get it. And, enough of the whites get it too.

In 1860 States' Rights was about maintaining the institution of slavery. In 1948 it meant this In the 50s it meant opposition to any form of desegregation. Moving into the 60s it meant opposition to the nasty federal government's pesky anti-discrimination laws and that horror of horrors, the Voting Rights Act.

Us liberals feel genuine outrage the William Rehnquist was a poll thug. We'd chalk it up to youthful indiscretion if he hadn't lied about it in confirmation hearings -- twice. We feel genuine outrage that a necessary stop in the Republican primary season is Bob Jones University - a slap in the face to minorities and ANY non-Protestants, particularly catholics. We feel outrage that the liberal media tut tuts it a bit every four years, but doesn't make a big deal out of it other than as 'strategery.' We feel genuine outrage that, as Bob Herbert reminds us, Reagan's first major campaign appearance was in Philadelphia, Mississippi

which just happened to be the place where three civil rights workers — Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney — were murdered in 1964.

Reagan knew the code then too:


During that appearance, Mr. Reagan told his audience, "I believe in states' rights."
Enough said.

And, we feel outrage that this speaking in code is, to us, obvious. It's obvious to anyone who pays attention. It's obvious to African-American civil rights leaders who get smacked down every time they bring it up. I'm tired of such people being accused of some form of "reverse racism" for even daring to bring it up. I'm tired of liberals and democrats being accused of cynical exploitation of race. What could be a more cynical exploitation of race than a fake organization run out of Grover Norquist's office with Lou Sheldon, Gary Bauer, and Sean Hannity on its board? My God what an insult.

Race and racism are still huge issues in this country. The P.C. backlash and its accompanied white male victimology has turned the issue completely on its head in a farcical fashion, and for the most part this is the slant that the 'liberal media' takes on these issues. It's time to stop this bullshit.

Conwebwatch takes on the "Counter Clinton Library." As idiotic as this is, they were prominently featured on Talk Back Live on the Clinton News Newtwork. liberal media my ass

Counterspin takes on Instapundit.

Thinking it Through takes on Instapundit.

Ted Barlow takes on Instapundit.

Volokh takes on Instapundit.


he must like the attention.

Neal Pollack sums it up.

SASsy takes on Sullivan's completely freaky writings about his steroid use.

Tom Tomorrow notes that Trent Lott may have hit the Trifecta.

Krugman gives well-deserved kudos to Marshall

Notice, by the way, who really gets served in this charade. The open-minded majority gets ringing affirmations of its principles; but once the dust has settled, the people who agree with Mr. Lott get to keep him as majority leader, and get the judgeships too.

Still, pulling off a two-faced political strategy is tricky. What prevents reporters from explaining to the majority the coded messages that are being sent to the minority?

Good question; I wish I knew the answer. But what's remarkable in the Lott affair is how much he has gotten away with over the years. How many readers ever heard about the flap, several years ago, over Mr. Lott's association with the racist Council of Conservative Citizens? The scandal was actually worse than his remarks last week — but it just got buried. And without the indefatigable efforts of Mr. Marshall and a few other Internet writers, Mr. Lott's recent celebration of segregation would probably have been buried as well.

Thanks Kevin. And, for the record, let's look at Instapundit's first post on the Lott affair.


TRENT LOTT DESERVES THE SHIT he's getting from Atrios and Josh Marshall.



And, Ken, as for why some of the usual suspects may have been a bit slow to go after Trent Lott - it's because last few times they tried they were ignored. Just ask Stanley Crouch.

I mean, how many times do we have to scream about this guy before someone notices?

Jonah Sucks up to Segregationist Times Editor!

It's amazing how he can write a long rant about the "filthy linen" of the Democratic Party - the Congressional Black Caucus - without bothering to include a single specific critcism of any of them.

I suppose it is a youthful indiscretion...

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott helped lead a successful battle to prevent his college fraternity from admitting blacks to any of its chapters, in a little-known incident now four decades old. At a time when racial issues were roiling campuses across the South, some chapters of Sigma Nu fraternity in the Northeast were considering admitting African-American members, a move that would have sent a powerful statement through the tradition-bound world of sororities and fraternities. At the time, Lott was president of the intra-fraternity council at the University of Mississippi. When the issue came to a head at Sigma Nu's national convention — known as a "Grand Chapter" — in the early 1960s, "Trent was one of the strongest leaders in resisting the integration of the national fraternity in any of the chapters," recalls former CNN President Tom Johnson, then a Sigma Nu member at the University of Georgia.

Is Mickey Kaus going to be all over the Augusta Chronicle censorship story?

I'm not sure why, but I'm a bit surprised by Jonah Goldberg's silence on the McCain matter. I doubt Goldberg needs to work for the Times so I can only guess he's a bit intimidated by the thought of going against the whole Moon empire. It's hard to imagine that the top people at The Washington Times would really want a secessionist bigot to be one of their editors... or is it? Their editor in chief, Wesley Pruden, isn't exactly unsympathetic to the confederacy, as this speech to the United Daughters of the Confederacy demonstrates:


But we do love another country. Southerners, who as Faulkner said uniquely understand that the past is not dead because it is not even past, hold loyalty to two countries in our hearts. No man's heart races more than mine to the sight of the Stars and Stripes rippling in the breeze, no man means it more than I to recite my Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of America for all to hear. My heart is glad because I had the honor to wear the uniform of my country. And yet, like all Southerners, I hold dear in that most secret place of the heart, another country a country baptized 137 years ago on this very field in the blood of First Manassas, a country no longer at the mercy of the vicissitudes in the tangled affairs of men, a country that lives within us, a country that will endure for as long as men and women know love, and are faithful to the love of country, the love of God, and the love of each other. God bless America, God bless the memory of the Confederate States of America, and God bless you all.

Not such a big deal, perhaps, but apparently he has written from Southern Partisan Magazine as well. According to this index (can anyone track it down?) he wrote an article mocking "the Southern Baptist Convention's recent apology to blacks," as well as being interviewed for the magazine in 1993. While he can't be blamed for the sins of his father, it should be noted that his father was the Chaplain and Co-Founder for the Arkansas White Citizen's Council. The other co-founder was Judge Jim Johnson, Clinton Cock Hunter extraordinaire.

But, in any case, maybe Jonah's just a bit scared of opening up that particular box...he might not like what he finds inside, or what it does to his career.

In the middle of a flap about discrimination, what does Bush do? Sign an executive order allowing federal contractors to discriminate on the basis of religion.

WASHINGTON- President Bush is enacting by executive fiat key pieces of his divisive "faith-based initiative," including one that lets federal contractors use religious favoritism in their hiring.

....

By far the most contentious of the changes is Bush's executive order informing federal agencies that religious organizations refusing to hire people of any faith can still win contracts.

Additionally, new regulations being unveiled Thursday from the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Housing and Urban Development also preserve the right of religious groups providing certain government-financed services to hire based on religion.

Of course, if my religious beliefs include, say, the belief that racial mingling in the workplace is wrong, or that I won't hire workers who practice miscegenation, or...

This is a big deal - this has a much wider reach than the original proposal which was to allow, say, proselytizing drug treatment programs to get federal money.

UPDATE: For those who think this is somewhat alarmist - it sounds as if it would open the door for, say, Catholic Hospitals, which are a HUGE health care provider, to engage in religious discrimination. Not picking on them, just making the point that this could be BIG.

Stanley Crouch says 'see I told you so.'

The "he," of course, is Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.). In late 1998 and early 1999, when I was writing column after column about him and calling for his resignation because of his connection to the Council of Conservative Citizens, there was no response from the media at large, with the noble exceptions of Frank Rich and Bob Herbert, both of The New York Times.

That proved to me that all the talk about a liberal media bias was bunk - at least when it comes to race.

What better target could there have been? Here was a man from Mississippi, a heaven for rednecks. Here was the council, an organization that described itself as "pro-white," that published articles in its organ, the Citizens Informer, that advocated separation of the races and discouraged interracial marriage.

...


Lott might survive all this. He is not black. If he were, and if he had associated with a racist black organization, the media would have pressed his pants while he was wearing them.

In the name of true equality brotherhood, I wish Brother Lott a daily hot iron or two. He would then better understand the Negro.

Get Donkey tells us about media intimidation in Gulf War I. My guess is it worked, and they won't have to bother for Gulf War II.

Day 3 and still (As far as I have seen) neither Andrew Sullivan nor Jonah Goldberg have responded to TAPed's challenge. Email Andrew and Jonah and ask them what they think of that bigot and whether they think they should pull out of the Times.

That's: Andrew@andrewsullivan.com

and

jonahNRO@aol.com


TAPPED has some comments on the Washington Times as well.

Welcome Musings and Meanderings to the Blogosphere.

Did Lott really just say he was an 'integrationist?'

Oh lordy.

Josh Marshall has some of the Larry King transcript....even before it airs!

I agree with Josh - meltdown mode.

Oh Lordy, Lott is going to go on Larry King and pull a "Hugh Grant" later.

I'm sure Larry will throw some hard hitting questions at Lott. Maybe he could ask him questions like this

"So, Senator, when you were involved with the CCC did you share the concerns of the President of the North Carolina Chapter that there were too many Jews in the Clinton Administration?"

Lott compares being too enthusiastic for Paul Wellstone with being too enthusiastic for a pro-lynching agenda:

LOTT: Well, again, I'll let other people make that judgment. You know, sometimes when you praise people too much--I went to the floor of the Senate not too long ago and said words of praise for Paul Wellstone. Now, did that mean I was endorsing his positions in the Senate? No. What it meant was, this is a man who served the people, he was killed in a plane accident, and he was always courteous to me and friendly, and so that was the, I thought, the human and the right thing to do. That's why I went to his memorial services, because I thought it was the right thing to do. And quite often we do become too exuberant in our endorsements of people that perhaps we work with or that are retiring or it had been birthdays, in this case. So others clearly have made that sort of mistake.

(from reader LM)

A few people have written in looking for the Dixiecrat platform. Here it is.

And here is young Strom speaking at the convention.

Digby has some words for Andrew Sullivan, regarding his new boss Wes Pruden.

Lil' Andy didn't do his homework before he sold his soul to Rev Moon. The latest neo-confederate object of hate is homosexuality. And Wes Pruden is one of the most influential neoconfederates in the country.

Wes' daddy, after all, was president of the Arkansas Capital Citizens Council during the Little Rock desegregation battles. The rotten apple doesn't fall far from the diseased tree.

Wes Jr. was interviewed in John Ashcroft and Trent Lott's favorite magazine Southern Partisan in the famous 1993 AntiGay issue. Andy should have one of those Moonie researchers pull the leather bound copy from his editor's shelf and copy it for him. He'll find it just fascinating.

The truth is that the neoconfederates, which just voted in Sonny Perdue in Georgia get their nut by going after gays and lesbians now that they've been forced to stubble their racist spew.

That's what this anti-"special rights" thing is about, Andy. This is why the hate crimes statutes are opposed.

Here's an excerpt from the issue Wes Pruden participated in:


If You want to know how "Hate Crimes" legislation will work in practice, then here's a good example, Three men from Dundalk were convicted of beating up some homosexuals outside a bar in Baltimore, In Maryland, homosexuals are protected by politicians and coddled by the law. Crimes against these sensitive folks received special handling. ... In this case, the punishments were beyond all reason. One man was sentenced to two years in prison. A second received one year in prison. A third received 60 days.

Lawyer Donald Daneman insisted... that the incident was not a "hate crime." He said the whole thing started when one of the homosexuals grabbed his client's buttocks.

They forgot to mention that the three men assaulted gay bar patrons using a baseball bat and a pipe and escaping from the scene drove their car into the assembled crowd, striking one person, running over another and leaving one in a pool of blood on the roadway.

Better keep that in mind, Andy, when you're hanging around the water cooler with Pruden and RS Mccain.

People for the American Way tells us this

Neas pointed to several crucial votes in which
Thurmond and Lott were on opposite sides of
issues with important substantive and symbolic
importance:

In 2001, Lott cast the only vote against the
confirmation of Judge Roger Gregory, the first
African American judge ever seated on the 4th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals. Thurmond voted for
Gregory.

In 1983, Lott voted against creating a federal
holiday for civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thurmond voted for the holiday.

In 1982, Lott voted against the Voting Rights Act
extension, which Neas called “the most important
civil rights vote in the 1980s.” Thurmond supported
it.

In 1978, Lott voted against the 1978 District of
Columbia Voting Rights Constitutional
Amendment. Thurmond voted with the two-thirds
majorities in both houses that passed the
amendment, which eventually failed to win
approval in enough states to be ratified.

(Sent in by The Hamster)

While GLAAD tells us:

On Monday, June 15 [1998], Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott told The Armstrong Williams Show that "he believes homosexuality is a sin," and that "You should try to show them a way to deal with that problem, just like alcohol... or sex addiction...or kleptomaniacs."

(insert obligatory Armstrong Williams joke here).

Trent Lott is apparently babbling to objectively pro-lynching radio host Sean Hannity now. Actually, I should be fair to Sean given that he is a board member of this prominent African American group.

I can't throw my hat in with the crowd that thinks we should keep Lott around to use him for a punching bag. There are times when principle should come first, and this is one of them. It's been outrageous from the beginning that he had his leadership position - his segregationist links are NOT new or newly discovered, no matter what some bloggers like to think. Hoping to keep him around to exploit the situation politically is a bit too cynical even for this cynic. A message should be sent that Such a Person Should Not Be Majority Leader. It's up to the Republicans to do that, of course, but to hope for anything else is to hope for the continued legitimization of his views. It's time for him to go. If that somehow helps Republicans, fine, because it will be the right thing to do and they should get credit for doing it (even if their motives aren't pure - no one's ever are in this business.)

Everyone should read Joe Conason in Salon today. While not news to anyone who has read his book (as everyone should - if you haven't you frankly aren't qualified to discuss anything that happened in the last 10 years) - he highlights one of the many ignored facts of the whole "get Clinton" campaign - that some of the key players, early on at least, were Trentt Lott's segregationist pals.

But, you already knew this stuff because the liberal media reported it constantly.

One needs only to go to Instapundit today, and read all the examples of "Democratic racism" to find proof of my comment below that most conservatives I know, even when well meaning, have a tin ear about racial issues.

It isn't that some of the examples are "less" or "more" racist - it's just that I don't even know how *racism* comes into most of them in any form...

Ibidem tries to figure out what a "true apology" is.

Must read Howler. Especially the last half.

Tapped and Calpundit have a few words for the objectively pro-Bin Laden Instapundit.

Josh Marshall discovers Trent Lott filed an amicus brief on behalf of Bob Jones U. in 1983. Bear Left had this a year ago. That damn liberal media.

drip drip drip indeed.

Bye-bye universal postal service. My God, what century are we going back to?

Neptune world notes that Neal Boortz, lauded by the objectively pro-Bin Laden Instapundit, can't make his mind up about Trent Lott.

Yemen says - Give us our damn Scuds!

cheap publicity stunt.

jeeebus.
UPDATE: US says OK! Here they are!

So, what was the point of all that?



Look over there! Missles!

More from the Republican Hypocrites file...

A state senator who represents a portion of St. Tammany Parish was arrested and booked with lewd behavior during a raid at an adult video and bookstore on Chef Menteur Highway on Tuesday afternoon, the New Orleans Police Department said.

Being a gay Republican isn't enough to make you a hypocrite, voting against a repeal of the sodomy law is .

Tom Spencer has a few comments on how Certain Bloggers like to smear their opponents rather than argue with them.

Haha, Andy is starting in on the Washington Times...

RAINES AWARD NOMINEE: This is how the Washington Times spins the Trent Lott story today: "Black lawmakers upset with Daschle." At least Howell Raines has some sophistication.

Usual nonsense. IT ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH ANDY. Please email Signorile's article to Andy and ask him to confront the bigotry of his editor directly. Andrew@andrewsullivan.com.

Andrew Sullivan works for racists AND homophobes (catch the tell-tale sign of clinton cock obsession at the end).

nice money if you can get it.

From the Washington Times:

Robert Stacy McCain Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has inadvertently provided ammunition to those who would perpetuate the blood libel against conservatism in general and the Washington Times Republican Party's Southern-based expansion in particular — that it is tainted by bigotry. The conservative movement has spent more than a half-century driving out even the hint of racial or religious bigotry (some day, perhaps, the left will attempt the same thing for its precincts). To that end, we reject Mr. Lott's statement last week that if Strom Thurmond had been elected president in 1948, America "wouldn't have had all these problems over the years."

Funny freeper post of the day (regarding Lott):

To: walrus954

Cheerleaders ain't traditionally known for their brains.

5 posted on 12/10/2002 7:01 PM PST by dead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]

Anyway, with Drudge doing his part it's pretty clear the writing is on the wall for Lott. Whether this is the excuse some rival for the position was looking for, or a broader attempt for the Republican Party to purge itself of its sins, I'm not sure. But, right now CW says Lott's in trouble.

I love it when they're honest

You didn't donate to us? Bye bye tax breaks!

Saying big business should be punished for turning its back on the California Republican Party, state GOP Chairman Shawn Steel on Monday called for an end to corporate tax breaks and said he may push a 2004 ballot initiative to raise corporate property taxes.
"Any special tax breaks for these large corporations, I'm not interested in that -- that's over," Steel told a luncheon audience of the Sacramento Press Club.

Oh man, the knives are out. Hello Senate Majority Leader Nickles.

Jim Henley and Hesiod sniff some McCarthyism.

Tonight on Hardball, we'll have on Bob Dornan, Laura Ingraham and from the Left Pat Buchanan to discuss the Trent Lott issue.


I kid you not (well, other than the 'from the left' part).

Check out the transcript to "Gay Rights/Special Rights - Inside the Homosexual Agenda" starring...Trent Lott!


Oh man this thing is shameless.

Hey, Ted's back.

About time. Now is no time to go wobbly.

While Trent Lott's remarks were clearly over the line, it isn't as if - to many liberals - it was the first time he's crossed it. While I don't think all Right Wing/Republican voting types are racist's, its rare I find one who doesn't have a tin ear when it comes to racial issues, even when feigning concern. In all fairness this isn't limited to self-described conservatives - even the relatively liberal members of our not so liberal media see no problem with making a statement like "Jesse Helms isn't a racist, he just exploited the racism of his constituents to get himself elected." Still, while the condemnations of Lott by some were clearly genuine, forgive me for thinking that the condemnation from some circles isn't motivated more by a desire to see a Senate Majority Leader Nickles than any true concern. Hey, nothing wrong with a little crass opportunism I suppose - whatever real outrage I feel is also admittedly accompanied by some schaudenfreude.

In any case, I do hope that those who have rightfully condemned Lott take the time to wonder just what the hell is going on at the Conservative Paper of Record One of their editors is a member of a hardcore secessionist organization., the League of the South. His contributions can be found here and here and a debate about the organization's purpose can be found here. He's covered racial issues for the paper, citing as an authority the head of the explicitly racist New Century Foundation, so one can't simply argue that what he does in his free time doesn't affect his job. He's also tangled with the SPLC. In addition to his strongly racist views which clearly 'color' his coverage, he's no fan of gays and lesbians either, as this attack on Harvard President Lawrence Summers demonstrates (non-italics his):

Posted by BurkeCalhounDabney to thegreatbeast
On News/Activism 11/29/2002 11:35 PM PST #7 of 12


Harvard's president, Lawrence H. Summers, issued a statement calling the episode "extremely disturbing" and "part of a past that we have rightly
left behind." "Whatever attitudes may have been prevalent then," Mr. Summers said, "persecuting individuals on the basis of sexual orientation is
abhorrent and an affront to the values of the university."

Wimp! Speaking of someone who should be persecuted and run out of town ....

So, after you're done patting yourself on the back for your concern over Trent Lott's comments perhaps you can now redirect your outrage. Conservative types should be rightly concerned that "their" newspaper is home to this bigot. Perhaps you should let your views be heard.


Over to you Glenn.

UPDATE: McCain's posts have all been removed from Freepervile, so you'll have to take my word for it..

UPDATE 2: TAPPED has some thoughts as well.

But you got to dance with them what brung you, as the saying goes. Sullivan and Goldberg both contribute columns to the Times. If Lott's comments were "morally indefensible," as Goldberg wrote on The Corner, then McCain's certainly are. If "Lott Must Go," as Sullivan wrote on his site, then surely McCain must go, too. Perhaps Goldberg and Sullivan would even be willing, as a demonstration of their commitment to principle, to refuse to contribute to a newspaper with such a vile man in a relatively senior place on the masthead? This will be especially hard for Sullivan, who hates Signorile, but it would be the right thing to do.

As does Calpundit.

Hey, Howie, YOU didn't cover the Lott story on Reliable Sources either.

Special Moonie Tuesday Edition

Absolute must-read article by Michelangelo Signorile on bias at the other Times.

Last week I quoted the scary Washington Times’ backer, the Unification Church leader Rev. Sun Myung Moon ("Satan’s harvest is America," was just one of that charmers’ comments), whose paper Al Gore two weeks ago charged was "part and parcel of the Republican Party." Some people wrote in with the rather weak but nonetheless entertainable argument that Moon funds the paper but he has a "hands-off" approach and let’s the editors do what they want. (George H.W. Bush made the same claim, by the way–even though a former Washington Times editor has stated otherwise–back in 1996, when Papa Bush collected $100,000 from Moon and his cult for a speaking engagement at which Bush praised the publication as "a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington, D.C.")

So, let’s take a look at the views and not-so-hidden agenda of one of the actual editors of the paper, specifically, assistant national editor Robert Stacy McCain, who has a habit of posting commentary on message boards and elsewhere around the Internet:

"[T]he media now force interracial images into the public mind and a number of perfectly rational people react to these images with an altogether natural revulsion. The white person who does not mind transacting business with a black bank clerk may yet be averse to accepting the clerk as his sister-in-law, and THIS IS NOT RACISM, no matter what Madison Avenue, Hollywood and Washington tell us."

Yes, you read that right: a "natural revulsion" and "THIS IS NOT RACISM."

That was posted by Robert Stacy McCain (who has contributed to New York Press in the past) on a website called Reclaiming the South. The Washington Times editor posts a lot on the right-wing FreeRepublic.com as well, using an assumed name (BurkeCalhounDabney) but often linking back to his personal website, where there are photos of him and the rest of his large family of Seventh Day Adventists (and which identifies him by his real name and as a Washington Times editor). Editor McCain, who hails from Rome, GA, is one of those Confederate types who still hasn’t gotten over the Civil War and is trying to get the South to secede. He’s a member of a Southern secessionist organization called League of the South.

...

I do realize that it’s immensely important for the American press’ intrepid media reporters and critics to leave no stone unturned in their investigation into Howell Raines’ evil crusade on behalf of the female golfers of America. But don’t you think they could turn over just one or two measly stones at the conservative paper of record? Seems to me they’d find a lot of rancid stuff under those rocks.

Go read the rest.

And, if you'd like to see R.S. McCain's posts at the FreeRepublic click here .

Don't miss this one in which R.S. McCain says he agrees with Gordon Baum, the CEO of the CCC, when he says "God Bless Trent Lott."



More on this later...work to do...

Haha, U.S. scrubs Iraq disclosure before distributing it. It now looks just like this.

Roger Ailes, who is starting to give TBogg some competition, has this advice for Sully:
Remember, Andy: if you give a man a Fisk, you're an insufferable asshole, but if you teach a man to Fisk, you've created a whole new asshole.

and Neal Pollack is having his own Blog-related financial crisis.

Jesus. They can't even fake it good, can they?

Josh Marshall links us to the African American Republican Leadership Council.


Senator Edward W. Brooke, III
(R-MA) Retired
Honorary Chairman

David Keene, Chairman
American Conservative Union
Honorary Co-Chairman

Advisory Panel
Steve Baldwin
Gary Bauer
Ken Connor
Becky Norton Dunlop
Sean Hannity
Richard Lessner
Telly Lovelace
Connie Mackey
Stephen Moore
Terry Neese
Grover Norquist
Rev. Jesse Peterson
Rev. Lou Sheldon
Kenneth Timmerman
Paul Weyrich

Stalinist sympathizer, and probable pedophile, Paul Krugman weighs in on the Trent Lott issue.

It's unlikely that Mr. Lott will be forced to explain himself. The "liberal media," which went into a frenzy over political statements at Paul Wellstone's funeral, have largely ignored this story. To take the most spectacular demonstration of priorities, last week CNN's "Inside Politics" found time to cover Matt Drudge's unconfirmed (and untrue) allegations about the price of John Kerry's haircuts. "Just two days after moving closer to a presidential race, John Kerry already is in denial mode," intoned the host. But when the program interviewed Mr. Lott the day after the Thurmond event, his apparent nostalgia for segregation never came up.

From here, though, Mr. Lott's retroactive endorsement of a frankly racist campaign seems more important than Mr. Kerry's hair. The question is, who will make something of it? Not the media, apparently — but maybe it's time for the Democrats to make an issue of Mr. Lott's views.

Beauty of Gray takes a swim in Sully's bile.

Damn, you know you're screwed when David Horowitz thinks you're a racist.

Mid-life crisis?

Lott apologizes.

Don't worry, he'll do it again soon.

Josh Marshall says it's pretty weak. He's right. It was more than I expected, but it still includes too many "blame those who misinterpreted me" words.

How to avoid TIA detection

Alan Bisbort give us some new words:

"Demagoguery on poor Trent Lott." -- Robert Novak

Inside politics finally does Lott in the context of Al Gore's interview. Al said it was a racist statement, and Lott should withdraw them and apologize clearly or face censure in the Senate.

Here's the story online.

Haha. I bet Mickey Kaus is in tears. Snow just resigned from Augusta.

Thinking it Through gives us the link to Lott's remarks. Start at about 32:30. It's clear Lott wasn't just riffing - he's reading his remarks, and that one was said particularly forcefully. And, they do crash and burn with that sympathetic audience..

Lean Left notes that Trent Lott has written 14 columns, from 1992-1998, for Citizen Informer, the newsletter of the Council of Conservative Citizens. Hey, where all you righty bloggers been on this issue?

The socialists were on this.

Gays and lesbians were on this.

FAIR was on this.

Those leftists at Democracy Now! were on this.

To his credit, Stanley Crouch was on this. Twice.

Afrocentric News was on this.

Molly Ivins was on this.

Shall I go on?

John Bates, who just threw out the GAO case against Cheney, was a hatchet man for Starr.

When will you idiot Democrats learn not to confirm these thugs?

hahaahahahaahahaa

"Bush blamed Lindsey for many of the administration's economic missteps in recent months and even complained privately about his failure to exercise physically, aides said.


hahahahahahahahhahhaaha

oh make it stop...

Moonie Monday

For those who doubt the Reverend Moon's long connection to prominent conservatives, here's some fun facts.



Thurmond helps Moon overcome immigration obstacles.

Moon came to the United States in 1971 due to the intervention of Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) who helped the Korean religious leader overcome immigration obstacles.(67) Thurmond had spoken at a 1970 World Anti-Communist League convention sponsored by Shokyo Rengo.(67)

CAUSA has helped fund the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), and the Unification Church is one of four main elements within League.(1,6) Moon claimed that he raised $1.4 million for the 1970 WACL conference at which Sen. Thurmond spoke.(67)

Lott and Hatch Support Unifcation Church Holiday

On July 27, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) took the floor of the Senate to urge his fellow lawmakers to support "True Parents' Day," to be celebrated the following evening by the Women's Federation for World Peace, which is funded in large part by the Unification church. According to the Congressional Record, Lott pontificated that "the breakdown of the family is a major factor contributing to the rise of crime, teen pregnancy, educational decline, substance abuse and suicide among our nation's youth" and that "[p]arents, by their example of sacrificial love and transmission of moral and cultural values, play a crucial and determinant role in the development of youth." But he didn't mention that the holiday had beenlong celebrated by Unificationists, or that Hak Ja Han Moon had founded the Women's Federation and still serves as its international president. The following evening, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced Mrs. Moon to an audience of approximately 200 gathered in a Senate meeting room at the Dirksen Office Building. The Rev. Moon himself sat in the front row.

(thanks to Dooley for the links).

Look forward to Special Bonus Moonie Tuesday Tomorrow!

More fun in Louisiana:

In addition, workers in the Landrieu campaign cited what appeared to be unusually aggressive Republican efforts to dampen black turnout. They produced a flyer they said had been distributed in black public housing complexes in New Orleans, apparently designed to mislead black voters.

The flyer reads, in part: "Vote!!! Bad Weather? No problem!!! If the weather is uncomfortable on election day (Saturday December 7th) Remember you can wait and cast your ballot on Tuesday December 10th."

(via Sisyphus Shrugged)

TAPPED says, regarding the media:

Something is very, very wrong.

Welcome aboard.

I was going to write something like this, but the Howler did it for me (regarding Augusta):

And why is this topic getting so much play? Duh. Because it’s a conservative talking point! After all, Howell Raines has had bad judgment for years. But when he used his bad judgment to write editorials trashing Clinton for pseudo-scandals, did you see the corps—with its “liberal bias”—rise up to smite the great Timesman then? Weirdly, it’s only when Raines flogs a liberal cause that the press corps gets its knickers knotted.

Raines has always been an idiosyncratic crusader. In his tenure running the op-ed pages his targets were the Clintons and Wen-Ho Lee. Now his target is Augusta. Criticize it if you want, but it isn't evidence of Raines the Liberal, just Raines the self-important.

Credit where credit due. David Frum is sure that Lott didn't mean it, but does say he needs to make that clear.

Hesiod has the full scoop on the new Treasury Secretary, including his membership in Augusta. (queue Mickey Sullivan).

The guy has been collecting a huge salary in an incredibly subsidized industry for years. Perfect!

Josh Marshall has David Broder's violent condemnation of Lott:

As long as that racial divide continues, any kind of comment like this on Senator Lott’s part is going to be-have all kinds of bad resonance.

and some people wonder why we laugh at the 'liberal media.'

And, for those who think the "conservative media" is better, please track down those condemnations (or reporting) in the Washington Times.

The shredders are back...

But her connections may be wearing thin. The General Accounting Office (GAO) began an investigation in October into charges that she has mismanaged the office. Among the allegations: that she forced out a number of senior career staff members, improperly kept a gun in her office and ran up questionable travel bills. She is also under fire for delaying an audit of a Florida pension fund at the request of a top aide to Governor Jeb Bush.

Now, sources tell TIME, GAO investigators have discovered that documents potentially important to the inquiry have been shredded. The investigators are focusing on the possible destruction of notes, e-mails and memos written by top officials in Rehnquist's office. Rehnquist has denied that anything of significance was shredded, but the discovery prompted Rehnquist's general counsel to pen a Thanksgiving-week e-mail urging HHS staff to stop shredding.

The incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Grassley, has been critical of Rehnquist. But fellow Republican member Orrin Hatch, for whom she once worked, has asked Grassley to be kept "up to speed" on the inquiry. Grassley has only increased the pressure, complaining to her White House sponsors that they need to take the matter seriously, sources say. Translation: Find her another job.

Wonder what other interesting political appointees are floating around..

Lott

Asked to comment on Lott's remarks at the Thurmond celebration, Gordon Baum,

CEO of the Council of Conservative Citizens, said, "God Bless Trent Lott."

Just wanted to throw that up there... I assume that those condemning Lott, Right of Left, aren't big fans of Gordon Baum and his supporters either?

It's pledge week at AndyLand! There's no possible way I could duplicate Andy's long emotional plea for cash. All I will say is - it's pledge week at Eschaton too! And, if Sullivan gets more money than me then the terrorists have truly won!

Josh Marshall has some more comments on Lott, as does Calpundit and Neal Pollack, who has been unfairly slimed by Marshall.

Apparently Andy Sullivan thinks Lott should go as Majority Leader...Andy may be calling for other resignations soon...

Feel the love from Newsmax.

One of Landrieu's handlers insisted the comment was not a threat, but Terrell was shocked and saw the threat as a sign of the incumbent's desperation, her campaign said.

Landrieu should be careful as well, and she might want to avoid the unfriendly skies until the runoff election is held Dec. 7. Unfortunately, Democrat candidates have a tradition of dying in mysterious plane crashes - but only those in danger of losing. She should pray her party doesn't have a viable candidate ready to replace her.

When asked for comment, Bob Novak said that they were just kidding.

(via DU)

For the record: the media is not liberal, and therefore the failure of the liberal media to address Lott's comments is not proof that liberals are racists, but rather proof that the liberal media is actually not liberal at all.

A few bloggers pontificating is, as usual, not evidence of anything other than a few bloggers pontificating. It certainly doesn't demonstrate that conservatives care about this more than liberals. While I appreciate the fact that many Righty bloggers have condemned what Lott has said, so of course have all lefty bloggers. No Republican politician has condemned what Lott said as far as I know, while a number of Democratic ones have. Once again, because you haven't heard it is not proof that Democrats don't care, but rather proof that the liberal media isn't bothering to report what they are saying. I've only seen one conservative non-blogger pundit, William Kristol, give a tepid condemnation to what Lott said while he has been defended by Bill Safire and Robert Novak (twice). Every liberal pundit that has been given the opportunity has. And, no, Stephanopolous, Russert, and Matthews do not count, because they, like the rest of the media, are not liberal and in fact to the extent that they *are* liberal they are not, contrary to popular belief, liberal when it comes to minority issues. Coverage of these issues is usually either utterly ignorant or of the "backlash" variety.

The fact that there isn't more buzz about Trent Lott's comments should make all of this clear.


Us liberals have been well aware of Trent Lott's views and his connections to groups such as the CCC for years. I'm glad you're all with us now, but much like womens' rights in Afganistan you're a little late on this one. I saw this picture years ago:



That's Trent with his pals in the CCC.


Robert Byrd was in fact widely condemned for his use of the word 'nigger' by the liberal media as well as by fellow Democrats. The clip of him saying it was shown repeatedly for days. I can't remember any liberal pundit defending the comments.


Hronkomatic has similar thoughts. As does Jesse.

Grover laundering money? I'm shocked.

David E. takes on the times.

Daschle announcing press conference tomorrow with exciting 'senatorial' news...


hmmmmm

UPDATE: here's what Tom said:

DASCHLE: Well, I'll talk more about that in the morning but, first of all, to celebrate a huge victory in Louisiana last night. I am so pleased with the results. Mary Landrieu won, and not only that -- in a surprise victory, we won that congressional race, as well.

This is a great opportunity for Democrats. It's really the first victory of the 2004 cycle, Wolf, and we couldn't be more pleased.

But we'll be talking more about the 2004 cycle and our plans for that tomorrow morning. BLITZER: It sounds, Senator Daschle, like we're going to be hearing some sort of presidential discussion tomorrow morning. Is that a fair guess?

DASCHLE: No. No, this isn't about presidential politics tomorrow. This is about senatorial politics and some exciting news and an opportunity for us to draw attention once more to the sweet victory and the tremendous success we've enjoyed.

Senator Landrieu deserved to win that election. I congratulate her. She did an outstanding job, along with Senator Breaux. And it proves the Democrats are alive and well and kicking and full of energy and enthusiasm and ready to go on to fight the battles of the 108th Congress.

The best place to find news from the gay press as well as any other information related to the gay/lesbian community is The Free Republic. I swear, it's your one-stop shop for gay-themed news. Sure, you don't want to read past the articles into the comments, but someone over there is obsessed with scouring the media for any and all such articles.

Should be a fun week folks, some fun stories coming...

oooh..just heard of even ANOTHER fun story coming...

Instapundit takes another swing at Lott. Virginia Postrel says its time for him to go, and asks:

Why isn't every reporter, at every press conference, asking Lott or his spokesman what the Senate leader meant when he said a Thurmond victory in 1948 would have meant "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years"? Exactly which problems? How would Thurmond have been better?

Why indeed?

Day 3 and neither the New York Times nor the Greatest Jeneration have commented on Lott's pro-lynching stance. The world awaits.

Wow, Queen of the Spite Girls, Katherine Seelye, spins the Landrieu win against Bush.

NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 7 — In a rebuff to President Bush's political power and personal prestige, Louisiana voters today rejected Suzanne Haik Terrell, his hand-picked candidate, and retained Senator Mary L. Landrieu, a freshman Democrat, leaving unbroken the Democrats' 130-year-old monopoly on Louisiana's two Senate berths in Washington.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Senator Landrieu had 627,253 votes, or 51 percent, and Ms. Terrell had 591,791, or 49 percent. Ms. Terrell conceded late tonight.

While surveys had shown this $11 million race to be a dead heat, many analysts had believed that Ms. Terrell, whose campaign was engineered and fueled by the White House, had the momentum going into today's runoff election, which was needed because of Ms. Landrieu's failure to win 50 percent of the vote in November.

Aided by warm, clear weather, the Landrieu campaign succeeded in pulling out enough African-American voters to counter Ms. Terrell's overwhelming support among white voters, a strong commitment from the national Republican Party and a last-minute attempt to discourage blacks from going to the polls.

Candy Crowley, on the other hand, appeared suicidal on CNN.

UPDATE: There's a mysterious disappearing and reappearing paragraph in that article. Was there, then gone, now back again:


With a last-minute outcropping of anti-Landrieu signs, the Republicans did their best to suppress the black vote so crucial to Ms. Landrieu's fortunes. The new signs, paid for by the Louisiana Republican Party, said: "Mary: If you don't respect us, don't expect us." The quotation was from a popular black official, State Senator Cleo Fields, who had initially been cool to Ms. Landrieu's candidacy because she had not supported his bid for governor and because he believed that she was taking the black vote for granted. Mr. Fields later endorsed Ms. Landrieu.The Republicans paid black youths $75 today to hold the signs aloft on street corners in black neighborhoods. After the signs appeared, the Landrieu field operation, captained by Donna Brazile, an expert in get-out-the-vote efforts, asked Mr. Fields to tape a telephone message that could be speed-dialed into thousands of black homes across the state to prod voters to the polls. He did so.