Trent Lott Shoots His Mouth Off He could be in for a very short stint as Senate Majority Leader. It's hard to imagine anyone with so much power has such a shocking view of history. Speaking Thursday at a 100th birthday party and retirement celebration for Sen. Thurmond (R- S.C.) in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Lott said, "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either." The problem was that Thurmond, though perhaps not a bigot at the time, was certainly a politician preying on the fears of his constituency as candidate for the 'Dixiecrat' party in 1948. "All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches." On July 17, 1948, delegates from 13 southern states gathered in Birmingham to nominate Thurmond and adopt a platform that said in part, "We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race." I can't find any way to defend Lott for such a gaffe ... I don't know whether Thurmond is or was a bigot or if that was just a political hook ... it doesn't matter now. For Lott, a Senator who is presumably not senile, to issue an endorsement of his candidacy flies in the face of American morals and the standards we want to set as an example of freedom and equality for the world. If Democrats want to paint the Republicans as the party of intolerance, this is surely the ammunition they will use. Article Here