Shifting Baselines

Republican Sen. Trent Lott, 66, unexpectedly announced on Monday that he will retire, amidst rumors that he had paid male escorts for sex. Read the article and vote on whether or not you believe the allegations: http://www.pollsb.com/polls/poll/4055/trent-lott-did-he-or-did-he-not-have-a-gay-affair-with-a-male-escort-and-resign-because-of-it

Posted by: sylvie | November 27, 2007 12:12 PM

LOTT FINALLY FORCED OUT

The signs carried outside the historic Old Capitol read, "Trent is Toast," "Trent the Traitor" and "Don't Trent on Me." It was right after Trent Lott had appeared on the Black Entertainment Network, condemning his Mississippi constituents for being segregationists, apologizing for the 1948 Magnolia-State vote for the Dixiecrat ticket, stating that he had made a mistake by voting against King Day and vowing his support for affirmative-action. Picketer Glenda Hinson said that Lott had betrayed the state. Kevin Furlow dubbed Lott an "embarrassment" for first endorsing, then reviling, Strom Thurmond. It took five years, but the 488,000 who voted for the Confederate flag finally got their wish. Lott was out.

Another picketer observed that "Lott actually abdicated the day that he went on BET." Richard Barrett noted that "there was a time when young men would have delighted to carry his torch, now they are content to bury his corpse." Lott had descended from one of the most outspoken neo-Confederates to one of the most infamous Negrophiles, all to try to salvage his Senate leadership position and appease George W. Bush, who had lambasted Lott for cheering former-segregationist presidential-candidate Thurmond on his one-hundredth birthday. Bush had named more Negroes to office than any chief-executive. But Lott, installing a Cuban in a federal-judgeship and turning Mississippi into a colony of Mexico and vassel of Asia, was not far behind.

Lott, who, at one point, had been mentioned as presidential-timber, turned out to be a tragic figure. He was groomed by Congressman William L. Colmer, the "Dean" of the House of Representatives and one of the staunchest segregationists. Lott assumed the mantel not only of Colmer, but of Jefferson Davis. Lott switched to the Republican Party, when whites were fleeing the darkening Democrats, on the strength of his having been an Ole-Miss cheerleader, carrying the Confederate-flag onto the football-field and waving the banner in opposition to the forcing of Negroes into the white school in 1962. He embodied not only the "Solid South" and "Old South," but "The South Rising Again." Yet, at the end, not a single caller to a "Super-Talk-Radio" poll supported him.

Lott had started out being not only young and affable, but aspiring and astute. He lunged into political hot-spots, unafraid of "controversy," for the segregationist cause. When the Internal Revenue Service attempted to penalize white, segregated private-schools, fleeing integration, it was Lott to the fore in behalf of the students. He not only opposed the IRS, but backed the "voucher" plans, which would have allowed parents a tax-deduction for educating pupils at segregated academies. He built upon Colmer's cadre with his own network of segregationists, both young and old, announcing that the Republican Party had become the "embodiment of Jefferson Davis." He would glad-hand his constituents, with his omnipresent, Confederate-flag backdrop.

Lott delighted that he was elevated to sit at Jefferson Davis' actual desk and published photos of himself with segregated-school students, conservative political-leaders and Confederate-heritage groups. He voted against King Day, over objections of the Negro-lobby, and supported cutting off funds to the King Center. But, then, scandal struck, as dizzying power led to reckless corruption. Lott unexpectedly struck a deal to prevent a full Senate-trial of Bill Clinton on impeachment-charges and embarked on a sordid-saga of parlaying his influence to enrich himself and his newfound "friends." He maneuvered a series of "sweetheart-deals" to ensconce his brother-in-law, Dickie Scruggs, as a billionaire and Mississippi's richest-man.

The friends-of-Lott club would receive non-bid contracts from state-officials, both Republican and Democrat, and reap multi-million-dollar fees for work that should have been performed by salaried state-employees, at no additional-cost to taxpayers. All the while, Lott would insist that "I am not a rich man." Eventually, the dominoes began to fall, as Lott's associates were convicted of corruption. As the noose drew tighter, Lott, who had stubbornly refused to yield his seat, stepped aside. Lott had made good on his pledge to become a "born-again" Negrophile. He voted for the Voting Rights Act, which drew Negro-gerrymandered districts, as well as for the "cold-case" bill, to prosecute Sixties' anti-Communists. He, even, hyped fellow "born-again" integrationist, Charles Pickering.

When admonished to "stand fast" against those calling for him to "apologize" for segregation, Lott threatened to sue those criticizing him. "Business is good," claimed his lawyer, Scruggs, who never made good on his threat, while Lott's daughter, who had attended a news-conference of segregationists urging Lott to "hold the line," spewed profanity against integration-opponents. Lott came out against the Confederate flag and, even, tried to abolish the venerable Colonel-Reb slave-master mascot at his alma mater. Loss after loss tarnished the once rising-star as Lott severed ties to his grass-roots constituents. Lott even distanced himself from his own mother, who had once threatened to shoot a newspaper-publisher, if he printed integrationist-propaganda.

Lott had sought to establish a personal-dynasty, based upon the Negro-bloc and the mega-rich. But, the Negroes would have nothing to do with him and his businessmen-pals eventually left him in the lurch. No sooner had Lott trashed his rural, Carroll-County roots than he took up with Japanese and Mexican businessmen. He engineered the erection of a Japanese auto-plant in Mississippi, with enormous state-subsidies, reducing beleaguered workers to serfs to a foreign "plantation." Nissan, immediately, opposed the Confederate flag and trotted out "Minact," its "Minorities in Action" program, to elevate Negroes and Mexicans above Mississippians. As the plant's hands became eight-to-one Negro, recalcitrant whites would be fired for being "racially-offensive."

One young worker, Joe Reel, who had spoken out against "being a slave to the Japanese-occupation," was kicked out and hounded into killing himself. Lott bragged about his role in enacting the Mexican super-highway, which would bring Mexicans directly into Mississippi, without having to detour through Texas. Lott's "free-trade" proclivities not only flooded his home-state with foreign-goods but with Mexicans. During Lott's tenure, entire towns, like Morton, became Mexican and entire industries, like Sanderson chicken-processors, fell to migrant-labor, no longer "migrant." Lott strongly supported amnesty for illegal-aliens and hung up the phone when constituents would call to protest. Amnesty, corruption and indifference had taken their toll.

After approving the "cold-case" plan, Lott heard from supporters of L. D. Smith, the young Vietnam-soldier killed by Negroes for wearing a Confederate-flag on his uniform, inquiring if Lott intended to dredge up the Sixties' murderers. Lott refused to even reply. When first elected to the Senate, Lott strode into his raucous victory-celebration and the first hand he shook was Barrett's. The celebration recalled earlier days when Lott, Colmer and Barrett would make public-appearances, together. "Thanks," Lott gleamed. But, at his resignation, the gleam was gone, the crowds dissipated and the ardor grown cold. Lott had lockstepped with dreary politicos, such as Charles and Chip Pickering, for "private-sector" enrichment, rather than public-service fulfillment.

Lott had weaseled State Farm into paying him off, despite his failing to procure flood-insurance and policy-provisions against his vaunted hurricane-claims. When his "business-is-good" brother-in-law turned the screws, Lott turned the wheels and more favors flowed in. But, so did public-indignation. Lott had concluded that he would likely be indicted, when a Democratic-Administration was ushered into the White House, in the juggernaut for "change," and that he had better "get while the getting was good." In his swan-song, Lott made no mention of erecting a Smith Memorial or polishing Davis' desk, only of "talking to friends" about his business prospects. Mississippi, that enchanting land of statesmen and incomparable home of heroes, deserved better.

http://www.nationalist.org/news/flashes/2007/112601.html

� 2007 The Nationalist Movement

Posted by: Good Riddance | November 27, 2007 8:21 PM