December 15, 2002
Dunces of Confederacy By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
On Thursday night, I watched a cerebral catfight about Communism between Mary McCarthy, Trotskyite, and Lillian Hellman, Stalinist, circa 1949.
The two literary divas conjured up in Nora Ephron's new Broadway play, "Imaginary Friends," sit in a scarlet deco bar in the third circle of hell, having a schism over an ism that's now an anachronism.
It was fascinating to see people get so hot and bothered over ideas that are so out of date.
On Friday, I went back to work, where I could see people get hot and bothered over ideas that are up to date: segregation, cross-burnings, all-male golf clubs, an all-male priesthood and girls clawing each other on TV to snare a man. (At least McCarthy and Hellman hissed over ideas.)
How did the present become more pass than the past?
We could have had a perfect Friday the 13th trifecta. First Cardinal Law, coddler of pedophiles, resigned. Then Kissy, coddler of dictators, kissed off the 9/11 families rather than reveal his clients. But then Trent Lott, coddler of racists, spoiled it all.
Instead of stepping down as Senate leader, Mr. Lott said he would be stepping out early this week on Black Entertainment Television, shoehorning himself between hip-hop stars. Perhaps he will perform the Singing Senators' barbershop quartet version of "Little Darlin' " or even dare we hope? re-enact his cheerleading routine from Ole Miss, chanting "Hotty, toddy, gosh almighty!" and running onto the field brandishing the Confederate flag.
"For a full hour, I will talk about my hopes and dreams for the people in this state and this country, regardless of their race, and to make sure that African-Americans have the opportunities that they deserve," he promised the press in Pascagoula.
For the love of Amos 'n' Andy, hasn't Mr. Lott punished the black man enough?
He patted himself on the back for voting to put a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Capitol, even though he fought against the King holiday. He lauded himself for pushing a resolution commemorating June 19, 1865, as the end of slavery, even though he interceded in the 80's to help Bob Jones, a university that held firm against interracial hand-holding, keep its tax-exempt status.
For some bizarre reason, perhaps confusing the Washington scandal with the Boston scandal, Mr. Lott felt the need to reassure Americans that his relationship with Strom Thurmond was "platonic."
Invoking his humble roots as a sharecropper's son, he rhapsodized that people could live the American dream without leeching off the American government.
He said he had been able to go to a public college and
law school and always read the Bible. He was too modest to say he did all that while still making time to lead the fight to keep his fraternity segregated.
He shared that he was working through his pain with a couple of blacks, including Roy Innis, the head of a shell organization called CORE. Mr. Innis routinely rents himself out as Black Friend to Disgraced Whites and once bestowed a lifetime CORE membership on Idi Amin.
As usual with pols, the rhetoric tended to be the reverse of the reality. In 1998, Mr. Lott was only too glad to be the featured speaker at the dedication of the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library in Beauvoir, Miss., where he said he sometimes felt "closer to Jefferson Davis than any other man in America." On Friday, he proclaimed that "segregation and racism are immoral."
Democrats were publicly screaming for less of Lott, while privately wanting more, gleefully exulting that he could be a potent symbol. It was surreal that on Wednesday, the same day the senator sputtered his first big apology for his wistful comments about the 1948 Dixiecrat ticket, Clarence Thomas passionately denounced cross-burnings as part of a racist "reign of terror."
The Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization formed to succeed the white citizens' councils of the 1960's, had filed an amicus brief in the case, defending cross-burners. Mr. Lott has been a favorite of the C.C.C., and in 1992 he told its members that "the people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy."
You know you're in trouble when Clarence Thomas is playing Martin Luther King to your David Duke.
Dunces of Confederacy By MAUREEN DOWD
WASHINGTON
On Thursday night, I watched a cerebral catfight about Communism between Mary McCarthy, Trotskyite, and Lillian Hellman, Stalinist, circa 1949.
The two literary divas conjured up in Nora Ephron's new Broadway play, "Imaginary Friends," sit in a scarlet deco bar in the third circle of hell, having a schism over an ism that's now an anachronism.
It was fascinating to see people get so hot and bothered over ideas that are so out of date.
On Friday, I went back to work, where I could see people get hot and bothered over ideas that are up to date: segregation, cross-burnings, all-male golf clubs, an all-male priesthood and girls clawing each other on TV to snare a man. (At least McCarthy and Hellman hissed over ideas.)
How did the present become more pass than the past?
We could have had a perfect Friday the 13th trifecta. First Cardinal Law, coddler of pedophiles, resigned. Then Kissy, coddler of dictators, kissed off the 9/11 families rather than reveal his clients. But then Trent Lott, coddler of racists, spoiled it all.
Instead of stepping down as Senate leader, Mr. Lott said he would be stepping out early this week on Black Entertainment Television, shoehorning himself between hip-hop stars. Perhaps he will perform the Singing Senators' barbershop quartet version of "Little Darlin' " or even dare we hope? re-enact his cheerleading routine from Ole Miss, chanting "Hotty, toddy, gosh almighty!" and running onto the field brandishing the Confederate flag.
"For a full hour, I will talk about my hopes and dreams for the people in this state and this country, regardless of their race, and to make sure that African-Americans have the opportunities that they deserve," he promised the press in Pascagoula.
For the love of Amos 'n' Andy, hasn't Mr. Lott punished the black man enough?
He patted himself on the back for voting to put a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. in the Capitol, even though he fought against the King holiday. He lauded himself for pushing a resolution commemorating June 19, 1865, as the end of slavery, even though he interceded in the 80's to help Bob Jones, a university that held firm against interracial hand-holding, keep its tax-exempt status.
For some bizarre reason, perhaps confusing the Washington scandal with the Boston scandal, Mr. Lott felt the need to reassure Americans that his relationship with Strom Thurmond was "platonic."
Invoking his humble roots as a sharecropper's son, he rhapsodized that people could live the American dream without leeching off the American government.
He said he had been able to go to a public college and
law school and always read the Bible. He was too modest to say he did all that while still making time to lead the fight to keep his fraternity segregated.
He shared that he was working through his pain with a couple of blacks, including Roy Innis, the head of a shell organization called CORE. Mr. Innis routinely rents himself out as Black Friend to Disgraced Whites and once bestowed a lifetime CORE membership on Idi Amin.
As usual with pols, the rhetoric tended to be the reverse of the reality. In 1998, Mr. Lott was only too glad to be the featured speaker at the dedication of the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library in Beauvoir, Miss., where he said he sometimes felt "closer to Jefferson Davis than any other man in America." On Friday, he proclaimed that "segregation and racism are immoral."
Democrats were publicly screaming for less of Lott, while privately wanting more, gleefully exulting that he could be a potent symbol. It was surreal that on Wednesday, the same day the senator sputtered his first big apology for his wistful comments about the 1948 Dixiecrat ticket, Clarence Thomas passionately denounced cross-burnings as part of a racist "reign of terror."
The Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization formed to succeed the white citizens' councils of the 1960's, had filed an amicus brief in the case, defending cross-burners. Mr. Lott has been a favorite of the C.C.C., and in 1992 he told its members that "the people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy."
You know you're in trouble when Clarence Thomas is playing Martin Luther King to your David Duke.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
I'm waiting to see how the resignation of Cardinal Law affects the mood of people here in Canada toward the church, I have a feeling it's not going to do a helluva lot for it. Have you seen how retired Cardinals live? No wonder he didn't want to keep his job under public scrutiny, he wanted to go sip margaritas by the pool in the mediterranean.