Yesterday there was a new piece at BlueOregon on the problems Oregon's junior Senator, Republican Gordon Smith has stepped into over his defending outgoing Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott's praising of Strom Thurmond's past which includes running for President of the United States on a segregationist platform.
While not explicitly doing so, at the end Kari's piece touches on something I mentioned in one of the multiple threads over there when this story began to break, that it is good to remember the context of why Lott was really pushed out of the leadership post over the Thurmond speech he gave.
(that context below the fold)
The issue of praising of Thurmond via a wink-and-a-nod towards his segregationist views is NOT what forced Lott out. The firestorm which erupted over the Thurmond birthday speech was the cover for Bush/Cheney to push Lott out and install Dr. Bill "I Kill Cats" Frist into the leadership. While the public and the GOP went all high dudgeon over the PR damage his racially charged toast was causing them, this move gave them a sock-puppet to control the Senate with which they could control things from the other end of Pennsylvania Ave. This was done so they could derail any substantive oversight and control the legislative agenda in the Senate in order to push through the blizzard of crap which handed them everything they wanted.
At the time Gordon Smith, because of the public outcry over the racist subtext of what Lott stepped in it by letting slip, dove for cover and said what he needed to deflect any of the dirt sticking to him. Smith said what he had to then in order to not get his blow-dried hair messed.
In order to angle into the powerbase that Lott had behind him until he was pushed aside by the Bush/Cheney crew, Smith was holding open the possibilities that Lott could gain "redemption" and back into the leadership. Several years later, after Frist is out, and all oversight and everything on Bush's wish list dutifully rubber-stamped by their Senate capo, Lott get's back into a Senate leadership post. Now with the GOP out of power and things looking exceedingly grim for the GOP since the map and race in the 2008 cycle is stacked-against them, Lott is golden parachuting out and over to K-Street and suddenly Smith is slutting himself to Lott and his network of backers.
So now we have Smith slutting himself out to Lott's supporters and long time money interests, just as he did when Larry Craig was caught tap-dancing in the men's room at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, and lept into the breach to try and flag down the john's driving up and down K-street who needed a whore for their timber and mining interests.
Smith may or may not be a racist, but we know he is a pandering whore who is willing to defend those who give a wink and nod towards racist moneyed interests and networks in order to hold his seat and expand his own golden parachute when that times comes.
Though he himself might not have been a racist either, this is just like Reagan's dog-whistle calls when he launched his 1980 in Philadelphia, Mississippi, which is famous as the site of the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964 and where he promised to "restore to states and local governments" which has long been code words in the segeregationist south. Like Reagan, often these wink and a nod gestures are about getting backing from the southern GOP donors and signposting that he is for sale to its establishment and is willing to play ball.
This is an explanation of the "what" in the "what was he thinking?" question about Smith's floor speech, cash and networking. What's even more interesting is that while Smith already has a massive war-chest, this pandering for more support from the out-of-state good ol' boy club could be a tell as to how bad his internal numbers are looking.
Thankfully Oregonian's have much better options than someone who sells himself and panders to good-ol'-boys like this.
(cross-posted at wiseass.org)