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12/21/2002 02:13:00 AM | Timothy Lott and Shelby Steele Trent Lott's racism is deep, really deep. And I should be clear that when I say the Republican party has problems with racism, I do not mean that most of them have the racist core that Lott has. Conservative Shelby Steele says that just after Trent Lott made his gaffe, his staff knew Lott wouldn't willing to go all the way and suggest how deeply immoral segregation was. Look at what I've put in bold below: On the Tuesday after Trent Lott's racial gaffe, I was approached by people close to the senator for advice on an appropriate apology. There was real desperation in their voices as they spoke into a speakerphone, but I had already concluded that he deserved what he was getting. That such a thought--segregation as a deliverance from "all these problems over all these years"--was rambling around in his head under the category of humor was clearly chilling. But they were also asking a perfectly reasonable question: How does a white male Mississippian, who has made an amazingly ugly racial gaffe, apologize? Could he have a political redemption? I offered nothing that wasn't obvious. He should talk about growing up in a segregated society and admit that he was affected by it. He should discuss in detail how he came to the realization that segregation and racism were wrong. Was there an epiphany, an incident, a process? They asked for language, so I gave them what I wanted to hear: "I loathe segregation and racism with everything in me. This loathing is, for me, the starting point of human decency." "He won't do all this," one of them said. "Then he should go down," I said. By the way, I've seen elsewhere that Bush was pissed when Lott didn't say segregation was immoral in his, I think, third apology. That had been planned, but somehow Lott 'forgot' necessitating his fourthy apology I could be wrong on that though. But Emmett Hogan on dartlog.net is quite right that besides himself, only Buchanan, Novak and "loonies" are supporting Lott... wonder why? perma link |
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