Thursday, June 03, 2004

Whole Lott-a Love

Everyone's favorite foot-in-mouth Senator is at it again. Apparently Trent Lott misses the glare of the spotlight that shown so bright back in 2002 when Lott lost his post as Senate Majority Leader following his public statements that waxed nostalgic for late Senator Strom Thurmond's 1948 presidential campaign that was built on a strict segregationist platform.

Recalling Thurmond's segregationist campaign, 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" [emphasis added]. Ah yes, if only segregationists carried the day, we would be without so many of the problems inherent in a racially integrated society. Curse those do-gooder civil rights activists.

Enough reminiscing though. Lott has again stoked the fires of controversy with his comments regarding the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib and other parts of Iraq. As reported in the Washington Post, "Lott condemned what he described as 'physical perversion' of prisoners but defended tactics such as sleep deprivation and the use of dogs as sometimes necessary to 'save some American troops' lives or a unit that could be in danger.'

'Hey, nothing wrong with holding a dog up there, unless the dog ate him' Lott said. When WAPT news anchorman Brad McMullan noted that a prisoner died at Abu Ghraib, apparently after a beating, Lott responded, 'This is not Sunday school; this is interrogation; this is rough stuff.' [emphasis added]

One can only assume that fifty years from now some right-wing Senator will come to Lott's defense and say that "if only homicide were accepted as a natural by-product of interrogations, Iraq wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years." Curse those do-gooder human rights activists.



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