Trent Lott Carries Proud Tradition of Exceptionalism & Bigotry

Successful politicians tend to speak with a bit discretion, but Trent Lott has his own standards. Lott, a former Mississippi senator, befriended white supremacist groups, condemned homosexuality, and praised segregationist policies, all while holding a Senate seat.

In the early 1960s, when northeast chapters of the college fraternity, Sigma Nu considered admitting black members, Lott passionately led the fight against integration. As president of the Ole Miss intra-fraternity council, he was successful in keeping the organization “streamlined.”

His amazing political voting record includes opposition to safe-sex education, factoring global warming into federal project planning, and extending federal hate crime law to include sexual orientation. The initiatives he did vote in favor of include: limiting death penalty appeals, banning federally funded affirmative action hiring, and loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping.

Over the years, Lott has remained a true to sense “eloquent” speaker. Just read some of the things he has said.

“Racial discrimination does not always violate public policy.”
–on Bob Jones University’s former ban on interracial dating (1981)

“Look at the costs involved in the Martin Luther King holiday and that fact that we have not done it for a lot of other people that were more deserving. I just think it was basically wrong.”
–on voting against making MLK Day a national holiday (1984)

“The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let’s take it in the right direction and our children will be the beneficiaries!”
–addressing the Council of Concerned Citizens; a white supremacist organization (1992)

‘‘Others have a sex addiction or are kleptomaniacs. There are all kinds of problems and addictions and difficulties and experiences of this kind that are wrong.”
–on Homosexuality (1998)

“I accept the fact that I made a terrible mistake…I’ve apologized for it. I’ve asked for forgiveness, and I’m going to continue to do that.”
–On his comments about Strom Thurmond (2002)

“Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.”
–on the Iraq War (2006)

“Now one of the ways I keep those goats in the fence is I electrified them. Once they got popped a couple of times they quit trying to jump it.”
-on immigration (2007)

Now living in D.C., Lott is back at it, posing as a lobbyist and learning how to be a “man of the people.”