-Caveat Lector- http://www.johnkerry.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6149
Trent Lott Should Step Aside As Majority Leader Wednesday, December 11, 2002 Statement of Senator John Kerry "Trent Lott has been my colleague with whom I've worked productively and often on legislation, and that is a tribute both to the colleagiality of the United States Senate and to Trent's style as a legislator. But in the final analysis, the question we face today has nothing to do with either. The question is whether someone who has made the statements Trent has made should be or can now effectively be the Majority Leader of the United States Senate. These statements divide Americans by race and region and they should never be tolerated, particularly not when they come from the Majority Leader of the United States Senate or anyone who seeks to offer leadership for our country. Trent Lott's statements place a cloud over his leadership because there can never be an appearance of racism or bigotry in any high position of leadership, particularly in the United States Senate. It saddens me greatly to suggest this, but in the interests of the Senate, his Party, and the nation I believe Trent Lott should step aside as Majority Leader. When I first heard Trent Lott had said of Strom Thurmond late last week that Mississippians were proud to have voted for Thurmond, ``and if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either,'' I was disturbed. Senator Lott of course argued he was just making a joke in his tribute to Strom Thurmond's 100 year milestone, but there's no humor in a suggestion that anyone running on a segregationist platform could have made our country stronger. Strom Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat presidential campaign was nothing but divisive, an appeal to our worst instincts as a nation which is why Strom Thurmond himself publicly disavowed his claims of that period. Too many Americans have given up their blood and even their lives to heal those divisions and move forward together as one America. I felt then that Sen. Lott should have made perfectly clear immediately that his comments were wrong and he should have retracted them before he gives any more false hope to those who would like to return to an America where segregationist views are treated as an acceptable political ideology. It's now clear this is not the first time Trent Lott has made similar comments. I simply do not believe the country can today afford to have someone who has made these statements again and again be the leader of the United States Senate. Let me make something very clear. This is not a matter of partisanship. I remember a Republican party of Ed Brooke, Jacob Javits, Everett Dirksen, Mark Hatfield, and Lowell Weicker -- Republicans who understood what it meant to be leaders of the Party of Lincoln. I also remember that for decades too many Democrats in the so-called Solid South won races playing to citizens' worst fears over race. That stain remains on our Party's history. I am proud that in the final analysis the Democratic Party chose a different course on the question of civil rights. But I am reminded that Democrats and Republicans are both capable of saying and doing things that are both stupid and wrong on this fundamental question. We must all strive to do better, and I believe the least we can do is say clearly that certain statements are simply unacceptable, whenever they are directed against any group by race, religion, or ethinicity." <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
