Not just Smith - Republicans AOK with segregationists now

I always thought that the 2002 purge of Trent Lott from his Majority Leader position had a strangeness to it. I was fond of telling a joke at the time that Lott was condemned for praising Strom Thurmond, but Thurmond was not condemned for BEING Strom Thurmond. There was this sense that the demotion somehow proved that we as a nation were understanding our past troubles with race, and we're moving on in a spirit of unity and tolerance, no longer condoning that kind of bigotry.

Five years later, the story has completlely changed.

Today Gordon Smith defended Lott's notorious comments, flip-flopping from his earlier condemnation back in 2002. Everyone's having a field day with that. But Orrin Hatch said essentially the same thing.



So did Arlen Specter.



These are some of the old lions of the Senate, claiming that Lott's comments were blown out of proportion, that the media sharks circled and attacked, that it was a travesty to do such a thing to such a good man.

Now, there are a lot of Villagers in Washington out there providing elegies for Trent Lott. But these three Senators are taking direct aim at one of his lowest moments, when he let his bigoted slip show and blurted out that the country would have been a lot better off with an open racist in the White House. Part of this is just the Senate protecting one of its own. But this wouldn't have been possible in 2002. And I think it's an example of the retrenchment of the Republican Party. As recently as 2002 it would have been radioactive to associate oneself with the remarks of a racist. By 2007 it's perfectly fine.

So, to sum up, Republicans are perfectly fine with segregationists. Maybe they could dig up some of these posters for next year:


The Republican Party has made a more open appeal to a Southern, "social conservative" base in recent years, one that dovetails very nicely with a culture of bigotry. Though these defenders come from around the country, they understand that their base is marginalized and regionalized. And so they prefer to sweep the genuine disgust with Lott's remarks under the rug, to appeal to this base.

Freedom's Just Another Word

We're bringing democracy to Iraq - circa the South in the 1950's.

The sign taped to the men’s latrine is just five lines:

“US Military Contractors Civilians Only!!!!!”

It needed only one: “No Iraqis.”

Here at this searing, dusty U.S. military base about four miles west of Baqouba, Iraqis — including interpreters who walk the same foot patrols and sleep in the same tents as U.S. troops — must use segregated bathrooms.

Here's a picture:



Warbloggers on the right immediately set to examining the typeface.

Even the Iraqi interpreters have to use separate bathrooms, and the reasons are literally because they're filthy dirty:

Other soldiers traced the regulations to what they called cultural differences.

“We’ve had issues with locals,” said Staff Sgt. Oscar Garcia. “It’s not because we’re segregating.”

Garcia said that some Iraqis squatted on the rims of unfamiliar American-style toilets or used showers as toilets.

Another soldier at the administrative hub cited conflicts over hygiene habits.

“We can’t accept people washing their feet where I brush my teeth,” he said.

Do you want to just poke your eyes out sometimes? We're not helping Iraq so much as teaching them how to drive each other apart. How long until the "Shiites only" signs go up in the bathroom stalls? We stumble in and can't sustain anything, neither security or even providing basic electricity and other services, we know that. But more so, we teach a culture of difference to the Iraqis. We force them to look at themselves in opposition to us and to each other. We institute quotas and mandates and highlight racial differences that once stood in the background. We are the catalyst for civil war and ethnic cleansing. And we seek to disassociate ourselves with them at every turn, betraying everything America is supposed to stand for by closing the doors of progress.

There aren't a lot more words you can say here.