Sunday, December 01, 2002

Strom Thurmond’s “party.”

Trent Lott poked a little hole in the veil at Strom Thurmond’s “party.” Politicians and used car dealers but are known for stretching both truth and lies so they blend nicely and resemble a pretty smile. Prestidigitation turns a clunker into a cream puff, and they expect us to admire the art and buy the image. All is really well, they assure us, and they love us all, and it’s only a matter of money. But sometimes the veil gets torn and we get a quick glance behind it.

Such a fissure was opened the other night by these two politicians who are well known for loving everyone, especially blacks, when Lott spoke of how he was proud to have voted for Thurmond for president of the United States in 1948, proud that the great and sovereign state of Mississippi had cast its electoral votes for Thurmond, and that if the rest of the nation had done the same, “. . . we would have avoided all this trouble!” (Great Applause!!!) This with an foolishly grinning, apparent cadaver sitting slumped in a wheel chair next to him. The veil was sundered for a moment, and suddenly we all knew just what these good-ole boys actually think and say when they are not in the public eye, back together in those “rooms” that used to be filled with smoke.

We also get a view of how the Senate members must operate when they feel they are away from public view, when they feel momentarily free from the need to Play Dumb on Purpose for the benefit of their electorate. Remember, Lott is the man they have chosen (and appear ready to do so again) to speak for all U.S. Senators. He is also a leading spokesman for the Republican Party, too, so we get a quick glance behind what the Republican Party really must feel about minorities. If Mississippi, the south, the Senate, the Republican Party, the United States Government don’t agree with these sentiments, they they need to not only refute them but also to rip that veil down. As for Daschle, he said that it was OK, Lott apologized, so what he said wasn’t important (more Playing Dumb on Purpose - like as if to say “Well, I really don’t think Lott or Thurmond even notice race.”). Well, all three of these used-car dealers, Thurman, Lott and Daschle should have moved to the state of anonymity long ago. And once again Mississippi is made a laughing stock of the nation and the rest of the world. I was born and raised in Vicksburg, so I know there are a lot of nice people there and in the rest of the south too, but when the blow flies walk about on top of anything, that’s all anybody sees.