THIS MODERN WORLD

Well, for about five minutes there, it looked like the libertarian-leaning Republicans would be spared the embarassment of belonging to a party which would, at the dawn of the twenty first century, still bother to defend someone like Trent Lott. But no — it looks like the blast faxes and listservs have been dispatched from that scary-looking castle atop the craggy mountain wherein the RNC is headquartered (at least in the world of the Simpsons), and the word is, we’re not tossing Trent overboard quite yet, so start circling the wagons. (And darn those metaphor-mixing Republicans anyway!)

And it can be sort of fun to watch rich white conservatives tie themselves in knots over the issue of race. I listened to Rush Limbaugh torturing logic until it screamed for mercy yesterday, explaining to an African American caller that there is no racism, but you see, if the caller believes that there is, then he just has to find a way to rise above it, because the problem isn’t racism, it’s all these people who have built a career on racism. Yes. That’s what perpetuates mistrust among the races. It’s not hatred or anger or intolerance. It’s people who keep whining about hatred, anger, intolerance. (They always seem to find a way to blame the victim, don’t they?)

One of Sean Hannity’s callers informed him yesterday that in an interview she had read somewhere, Strom Thurmond explained that his 1948 presidential run wasn’t about racism or segregation at all, you see, it was just about protecting the states from the overwhelming power of the federal government, and she, the caller, thought this was an interesting perspective that wasn’t getting much attention in the biased liberal media. Hannity replied that, well, um, er, he didn’t think that was quite true, he didn’t have the facts right in front of him, but he was pretty sure that Thurmond’s race did have a little bit to do with segregation. For the benefit of Hannity and his caller, let’s recall what old Strom himself had to say on the subject in 1948:

I want to tell you, ladies and gentleman, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigger race into our theatres, into our swimming pools, into our homes and into our churches. (wild applause)

(Courtesy of Mikhaela, who also has a good cartoon up on this whole thing, as well as some thoughts on her blog.)

Update: a reader writes that Strom did not say “nigger,” he said “nigra.” Sure sounds like the former to me — and as someone who spent half his childhood in the south, I’m not entirely tone deaf on this one — but even if one concedes the point, given that even in his youth, Strom sounded like he had a mouthful of marbles most of the time, I’m not sure why this would make the statement any more acceptable.

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And of course, all these guys, Rush and Sean and a second-stringer named Mike Gallagher, who I saw on Donahue last night — a show whose faltering ratings have apparently driven the producers to pursue heat over light, turning it into another shouting heads show which seems to feature Jerry Falwell as a guest at least once a week — but I digress…anyway, these guys are all dredging up every example of Democratic racism they can find, Jesse Jackson’s Hymietown remark, Robert Byrd’s Klan history, etc., etc., and before you know it, they’ll be pulling out the old standby argument that prejudice against old school Southern conservatives like Trent is itself a form of prejudice, bigotry towards bigotry, if you will.

Forget the old west metaphor of wagon-circling — let’s move on to something more contemporary. What they’re doing here is releasing countermeasures, like a jet which launches metallic chaff and high-intensity fireworks to try to keep the heat-seeking missile from locking onto its exhaust. If they can put enough distractions out there, confuse the issue, turn this whole thing into an argument about whether or not racism still exists in twenty-first century America — in short, turn this into an argument about whether or not the sky is blue and the grass is green — then there will follow a brief period of sound and fury, signifying nothing, and then everyone will kind of stumble away like drunks exiting an all night party, blinking in the harsh light of day and wondering what the hell just happened.

(Stupid toss-off comment about the line of succession to the presidency deleted due to complete inaccuracy. Nice to know everyone’s paying attention, at least. Sorry about that.)

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Incidentally, a reader alerts me to the fact that Trent’s friends at the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens (about whom more can be read here) address the question of whether racism exists in their FAQ:

The word racism was concocted by a communist ideologue in the 1920’s. The purpose of racism was to instill guilt and shame in the minds of white people and to inflame racial hostility among blacks. This word play succeeded beyond all expectations. Of course, the word racism has no meaning unless whites react to it. Because racism defines nothing, but instead generates dubious connotations, the C of CC refuses to be held hostage by what the word implies at any given moment. It is normal for white people to be proud of their race and heritage, is that racist?

As Sparky the penguin might be inclined to observe, it is difficult to argue with logic like that.

Just listened to Lott being interviewed by Sean Hannity . Several times, he managed to work the phrase “a mistake of the head, not of the heart” into the conversation. Toward the end, it became clear why:

“Quite often we do become too exuberant in our endorsements of people that perhaps we work with or are retiring or having birthdays, in this case, so I don’t want to, uh, others clearly have made that sort of mistake. This quote I talked about , it was a mistake of the head, not of the heart, was actually a quote as I understand it, from Jesse Jackson, in 1984. It’s a very thoughtful statement, you know, I don’t even remember what the occasion was, but he basically said it was an error of word, temprament, tone, caused discomfort and he asked forgiveness.”

I don’t remember that specific phrase, but Lott is obviously referring to Jackson’s ill-considered “Hymietown” remarks. And if you believe for one moment that Trent Lott just happened to come across this quote, but gosh darn it, can’t quite remember the context in which is was originally proferred, well, send me an email, because there’s a large and relatively well-known bridge not far from my home here in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you at a very reasonable price.

There’s a new Star Trek movie opening this weekend. What can I say? I try to keep it to a minimum around here, but I am, in fact, a lifelong geek.

But I’m sorry to read that my online pal Wil Wheaton, who played young Wesley Crusher for four or five seasons on Star Trek: the Next Generation, got dissed by his former employers once again. Not only was his cameo cut from the movie, but — adding insult to injury — he found out at the last minute that the “premiere” to which he had been invited was not actually the real premiere at all, but rather the b-list, no-stars, no-klieg-lights premiere.

Our sympathies go out. That’s gotta hurt.

(And while we’re on the geek train: anybody know if the Sci Fi channel is ever going to show the last few episodes of the late, lamented Farscape?)

Update: I am informed by several readers that the answer to the above question is “Yes, Tom, in January.” And that there’s more information available at www.savefarscape.com. Oh, and reader John Paul Davis has solved the MT archive mystery. I think I’m going to start posting random obscure questions, just to see if there’s anything that can stump you kids.

…besides both being bipedal carbon-based life forms, that is — we both own one of these:

It’s the John Ashcroft snow globe, created by artists Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese. I have one because they sent me a note awhile back and I met with them and traded art for art. As for Ashcroft, well, the story is here.

More information on Ligorano and Reese and their work (which is available for sale in limited editions, and frankly I can’t think of a lovelier gift this holiday season than a John Ashcroft snowglobe which plays “White Christmas,” unless it’s maybe a signed Tom Tomorrow print) can be found at their website.

From the Washington Times:

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has inadvertently provided ammunition to those who would perpetuate the blood libel against conservatism in general and the Republican Party’s Southern-based expansion in particular — that it is tainted by bigotry. The conservative movement has spent more than a half-century driving out even the hint of racial or religious bigotry…

So you see, the crazy notion that there’s any sort of linkage whatsoever between conservatism — particularly Trent Lott’s style of good old boy Southern conservatism — and racism is equivalent to the ancient anti-Semitic “blood libel.” And Trent has “inadvertently” helped perpetuate this baseless accusation. And we denounce this, oh yes we do, but only insofar as it provides our enemies with ammunition, because certainly Trent didn’t really mean what it sounded like he meant.

But they’ve got it partially right here. There has been a concerted effort among the more moderate-libertarian wings of the Republican party to exorcise the old ghosts of segregation and states rights (though I think the Washington Times overstates the time frame by maybe three or four decades). They’re smart enough to realize that that particular dog’s hunting seasons are long behind them. Which is exactly why some of the loudest voices howling on this one have been conservative. They’re trying to convince you to move into their lovely planned community, and as they take you around in a little electric golf cart and point out all the convenient amenities, the last thing they want you to see is the unpleasant muck which occasionally bubbles up to the surface, because then you might start wondering if the muck has really been eradicated, as the brochure promised, or just covered up with an attractive lawn which, though meticulously-tended, may not survive much longer than the time it takes for you to close on your new condo.

It also plays hell with that whole “conservatism is cool” meme.

As Tapped notes:

In a way, this all makes Tapped feel bad for younger conservatives, especially the cosmopolitan-intellectual types who talk a good game about the virtues of Red America but live in places like Washington, New York and Cape Cod. Guys like (Washington Times columnist Robert Stacy McCain) and Lott are throwbacks, a dying breed, and clearly it legitimately pains the younger guys that they have to play on the same team as these jackasses. It’s tough being the Blue-state intellectual arm of an Old South-led political movement.

(Follow that link, by the way, for more info on this McCain fellow — not to be confused with Senator John McCain, of course. Interesting stuff.)

But you know, our conservative friends who are shocked, shocked by Trent Lott’s comments have, well, maybe not been paying such close attention to the esteemed Senator’s history. As Atrios (who I’m finding increasingly invaluable) writes:

Lean Left notes that Trent Lott has written 14 columns, from 1992-1998, for Citizen Informer, the newsletter of the Council of Conservative Citizens. Hey, where all you righty bloggers been on this issue?

The socialists were on this.

Gays and lesbians were on this.

FAIR was on this.

Those leftists at Democracy Now! were on this.

To his credit, Stanley Crouch was on this. Twice.

Afrocentric News was on this.

Molly Ivins was on this.

Shall I go on?