In the ongoing firestorm over Oregon Junior Senator Gordon Smith's defense of outgoing Senator Trent Lott's infamous praising of segregationist Strom Thurmond's failed 1948 Presidential bid, Smith's office has been all over the map. Of course this is not new to anyone who has looked critically at how Smith operates, but in the furious effort to limit the PR damage this might cause his re-election bid, Smith and one of his spokesmen spun out another baffling contradiction.
(cross posted at wiseass.org)
In the ongoing firestorm over Oregon Junior Senator Gordon Smith's defense of outgoing Senator Trent Lott's infamous praising of segregationist Strom Thurmond's failed 1948 Presidential bid, Smith's office has been all over the map. Of course this is not new to anyone who has looked critically at how Smith operates, but in the furious effort to limit the PR damage this might cause his re-election bid, Smith and one of his spokesmen spun out another baffling contradiction.
This past Tuesday, Gordon Smith, on the floor of the United States Senate defended Trent Lott's praise of Strom Thurmond by saying:
"I was halfway around the world when an event befell Trent Lott that shook me deeply. I was celebrating my reelection and on vacation. I watched over international news as his words were misconstrued –words which we had heard him utter many times in his big warm-heartedness, trying to make one of our colleagues, Strom Thurmond, feel good at 100 years old. We knew what he meant, but the wolf pack of the press circled around him, sensed blood in the water, and the exigencies of politics caused a great injustice to be done to him and to Tricia. It was a wrong, but it was a wrong that was righted."
As the controversy over those words erupted in the blogsphere and began to spill into the media, Smith on told Jeff Kosseff of The Oregonian that when he said, "It was a wrong, but it was a wrong that was righted," he was referring not to Lott's removal as majority leader, but to Lott's original statement about Thurmond. Yet Smith spokesman R.C. Hammond said Wednesday, "He still believes that Senator Lott should have apologized as he did, and stepped down as he did."
So if Smith was saying that the "wrong" which was "righted" was Lott apologizing for his remarks in 2002 saying that "we wouldn't have had all these problems" if Strom Thurmond had won the Presidential 1948 election on an explicitly segregationist platform, what was being "misconstrued" in Lott's words?
If the "wrong" of what Lott said that was "righted" by his being forced to step down, what were the "exigencies of politics" which "caused a great injustice to be done to him and to Tricia"...?
Smith has yet to explain in any plausble way what "great injustice" was being done to Trent Lott and his wife when Smith himself?
It can't be the misconstruing of his words since Smith in 2002 said that Lott's words go "against everything I and the people of Oregon believe in."
It can't be the injustice done to Lott was his being forced to step down since both he and his spokepeople claim "He still believes that Senator Lott should have apologized as he did, and stepped down as he did."
So how is it possible to reconcile what Smith and his people have spun with what Smith actually has said?
As Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to replace Smith as Oregon's Junior Senator aptly questioned, "How can Oregonians trust what Gordon Smith says on any issue of consequence when he can't even form a consistent position on whether Trent Lott's pro-segregationist statements were wrong?"
Will the media call Smith on this obfuscating nonsense both he and his office has been putting out?
Will they point out to their audiences that Smith is clearly trying to wiggle out of the inherent contradiction in his words?
Will the media point out this is but one example of many others of Smith saying one thing to one audience, and a contradictory spun version to another?
Only time will tell.
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So let's recap what we have so far:
- July - Nov. 1948: Strom Thurmond runs as a Dixiecrat on a explicitly segregationist platform for the office of President of the United States. This was raison d'etre for his entire campaign, i.e. maintaining Jim Crow laws by running on "states rights" to block Federal moves to force desegregation.
- November 3, 1980: at a rally for the presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan in downtown Jackson Mississippi, at which Thurmond was the keynote speaker Trent Lott follows Thurmond's speech to the crowd saying: "You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today."
- December 5, 2002: at the 100th birthday party of Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina which is carried on C-SPAN, Trent Lott praises Thurmond for his segrigationist predisnetial bid saying: "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 the years, either." causing an immediate uproar.
- December 6, 2002:Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a leader of the civil rights movement in the 1960s states that he "could not believe he was saying what he said... (Thurmond) was one of the best-known segregationists. Is Lott saying the country should have voted to continue segregation, for segregated schools, 'white' and 'colored' restrooms?...That is what Strom Thurmond stood for in 1948."
- December 7, 2002: with the condemnation of Lott already escalating, Gordon Smith, leaves for vacation to New Zealand.
- December 7, 2002: Trent Lott's office plays down the sigfigance of the critism being leveld by civil rights leaders over his remarks. Ron Bonjean issues a two-sentence statement: "Senator Lott's remarks were intended to pay tribute to a remarkable man who led a remarkable life. To read anything more into these comments is wrong."
- December 10, 2002: Trent Lott, under mounting criticism for his comments, issues a written apology over his comment.
- December 17, 2002: Gordon Smith at a news conference at Portland International Airport after returning from a 10-day vacation in New Zealand condemned Lott's statement saying "However they were intended, Senator Lott's words were offensive and I was deeply dismayed to hear of them... His statement goes against everything I and the people of Oregon believe in."
- December 20, 2002: Under pressure from Senate colleagues, and having lost the support of the White House, Lott resigned as Senate Republican Leader.
- December 23, 2002: Bill Frist elected as Senate Republican Leader.
- November 15, 2006: Gordon Smith becomes a key backer of Sen. Trent Lott's return to a leadership post, in a 25-24 vote. During the closed-door election, Smith seconds the nomination, as confirmed by Smith's spokesman R.C. Hammond. Smith then spoke in support of Lott.
- November 26, 2007: Lott announces that he will resign his Senate seat by the end of 2007.
- December 18, 2007: Gordon Smith, on the floor of the United States Senate defends Trent Lott's praise of Strom Thurmond saying:
"I was halfway around the world when an event befell Trent Lott that shook me deeply. I was celebrating my reelection and on vacation. I watched over international news as his words were misconstrued –words which we had heard him utter many times in his big warm-heartedness, trying to make one of our colleagues, Strom Thurmond, feel good at 100 years old. We knew what he meant, but the wolf pack of the press circled around him, sensed blood in the water, and the exigencies of politics caused a great injustice to be done to him and to Tricia. It was a wrong, but it was a wrong that was righted."
- December 18, 2007 (11:33 a.m.): Bloggers immediate begin condemning Smith's new defense of Lott's toast to Thurmond, and also point out that Smith had condemned Lott's remarks back 2002.
- December 18, 2007 (afternoon): Smith in interview with the Associated Press tries to spin his floor speech by saying that he was "trying to express respect and admiration for a retiring friend." and was "speaking from the heart" and not reading from a speech, and may have misspoken.
"I was speaking extemporaneously... what I was trying to express in my speech is that I am proud of what (Lott) has done" since the controversy, Smith said.
- December 18, 2007 (afternoon): Smith in an interview continues to spin his floor speech saying "I said then what I said today and what I say now... What Trent Lott said was wrong. What I'm proud of is that he apologized and that he has worked every day since to regain the trust and respect of his colleagues... I believe in redemption."
- December 18, 2007: Smith continues to spin is statment on the Senate floor saying that when he said "It was a wrong, but it was a wrong that was righted," he was referring not to Lott's removal as majority leader, but to Lott's original statement about Thurmon.
- December 18, 2007 (11:30 p.m.): Lott's resignation becomes effective.
- December 19, 2007: The controversy continues into its second day in the media and with bloggers weighing in further on Smith's flip-flop on his statements.
- December 19, 2007: Smith's office continues to try and spin his statements with spokesman R.C. Hammond continues the spin saying "He still believes, that Senator Lott should have apologized as he did, and stepped down as he did."