← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · N.B. Forrest
Thread ID: 7828 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-07-03
2003-07-03 18:48 | User Profile
A Washington lie is laid to rest. By Timothy Noah
*For many years, there's been a cherished Washington lie about Strom Thurmond. The lie is that Thurmond, though once a leading segregationist, later renounced that view as morally wrong. Trent Lott repeated the lie at his Dec. 13 press conference. Thurmond, he said,
came to understand the evil of segregation and the wrongness of his own views. And to his credit, he's said as much himself. ââ¬Â¦ By the time I came to know Strom Thurmond, some 40 years after he ran for president ââ¬Â¦ he had long since renounced many of the views of the past, the repugnant views he had had. (asskissing clown)
But there never was any such expression of remorse or plea for forgiveness. Thurmond has never publicly repudiated his segregationist past, and with his 100th birthday and a Senate career behind him, it's doubtful he ever will. The legend of Strom's Remorse was invented, by common unspoken consent within the Beltway culture, in order to provide a plausible explanation why Thurmond should continue to hold power and command at least marginal respectability well past the time when history had condemned Thurmond's most significant political contribution. Now that Thurmond is finally leaving Washington, the lie serves no further purpose and will fade away.*
The only "plausible explanation" required for Thurmond's continued hold on power was the fact that his constituents kept voting for him. As for "history" condemning his seg views: "history" is a zhid - at the moment. That revolting situation will be rectified in due course.
If there's one thing all of this posthumous piling-on proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, it's this: Never back up, even a single inch. Don't even pretend to. Know what you believe and stick to it until the very end, come what may.
That's the only way to defeat these vermin.
Here's this scumbag's email. Please do send him a "love note":
chatterbox@slate.com.