Media glossed over new Senate minority whip Trent Lott's pro-segregation, anti-civil rights past

[bigtree]

In reporting on Sen. Trent Lott's (R-MS) November 15 election as Senate minority whip, several print media outlets noted that Lott had made a "comeback" after stepping down from the Senate leadership in 2002 over remarks he made at then-Sen. Strom Thurmond's (R-SC) birthday party praising Thurmond's 1948 pro-segregation presidential campaign, but failed to note that Lott's 2002 remarks were just the most recent in a pattern of public statements and actions that were attacked as racially insensitive and, in several cases, as indicating support for racist entities.

Reporting on Lott's election on November 16, The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal noted simply that Lott, at Thurmond's 100th birthday party on December 5, 2002, said of Thurmond's 1948 campaign: "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." A November 16 Los Angeles Times editorial, however, noted that Lott has "a credibility problem on issues of race," adding: "For example, when the Internal Revenue Service moved in 1981 to yank the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University because it prohibited interracial dating, Lott defended the school's position on religious freedom grounds."

As Media Matters for America has noted, there are numerous other examples of "racially insensitive" statements and actions by Lott. A December 13, 2002, Scripps Howard News Service article documented the reasons that both Democrats and Republicans blasted Lott for his apparent endorsement of segregationist policies . . .

more: http://mediamatters.org/items/200611160006



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[acmavm]

1. And the surprise is????

[bigtree]

2. why don't we just keep quiet on all of the things we assume everyone knows?

I like being so cynical and apathetic that I can't move or speak


This article has a great outline of the outrages. I take these reports and send them to the media outlets I think are ignoring the story. I think this is a moderately effective way to further or enhance these reports.

This report can counter the media spin about our own leadership dust up.

[bigtree]

3. dixiecrat kick

haw

[provis99]

4. racially insensitive? when I lived in Oxford Mississippi

he was considered an old-style bigot even by the standards of the racist local rednecks. I remember listening to him swapping racist Choctaw jokes with a backhoe operator/bail bondsman at a political rally in 94. Thankfully, even in Mississippi he was seen as an embarrassment by some of the white folks.

[SoCalDem]

5. Trent Lott (R) as in Racist n/t

[Disturbed]

6. The Corp Media, esp TV Media defends Rethugs as much

as they can because Rethugs uphold the Fairness Doctrine. Bill Clinton extended it, as well. Media Moguls want to hold on to their Empires.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

7. At least Daily Show reported it

And put a wicked spin on the notion of Lott as "minority whip."

That Media Matters report is good. The media is acting like Lott did the time, so to speak, so he's paid for the crime. No way, no how.

[EdwardM]

8. If the Republicans want to keep losing elections...

Keep elected corrupt assholes like Trent Lott. I'm glad he won. Infact, I hope he gets his position as minority leader back. Let these people know who the are voting for when they vote Republican.

[Selatius]

9. I voted against him here in Mississippi

He's a closet racist, and he's not terribly worker friendly.

Yet folks keep voting for him. There's a vacuum of knowledge around here, and the local news media isn't helping to enlighten the public.