Mike Gallagher
Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002

Even the kingpin of conservatism, the man admired by millions of us, wastes no time in throwing Lott under the wheels of the freight train. When Rush Limbaugh said, "I'm not here to defend Trent Lott," I knew that this was going to be a long, ugly haul.

If you somehow have the ability to know what is in Trent Lott's heart, go ahead and turn the page. Read something else. But if you're willing to have an honest, fair and reasonable examination of what has transpired, allow me to make my case.

First off, everyone can agree that Trent Lott is a seasoned, veteran politician. If his critics are correct, he's a closet segregationist. Do you really think that this pro would "slip" and let his supposed 1948-era views escape at a public birthday party for a retiring senator?

C'mon, get real. He's no more in favor of segregation than the man in the moon. Find one piece of legislation or vote he's ever cast that would suggest that he's a racist.

Secondly, Sen. Lott said that if the nation had made Thurmond president, we wouldn't have had "all these problems over the years." How does anyone come to the conclusion that "all these problems" must be about race relations? You don't think he could have been talking about the economy or unemployment?

Talk to a South Carolinian (I lived there for years) and Strom Thurmond represents ALL people of the state. Very few think of Thurmond in the year 2002 in the context of his regrettable Dixiecrat past. Why should Lott?

Trent Lott won't survive this debacle. But that's because this is a political furor, not a racial one. White Republicans in America are held to a wildly different standard from everyone else.

When Democrat and former Ku Klux Klansman Robert Byrd refers to "white niggers" on national television (leaving no doubt as to what's in HIS heart), there are no cries for his resignation from his leadership post.

When Democrat Jesse Jackson slurs Jews by calling New York City "Hymietown," he emerges unscathed.

But when a good and decent man like Trent Lott tries to make a 100-year-old man feel good at his birthday party by saying he would have made a great president, he somehow becomes a downright bigot. Unbelievable.

The other night, I was a guest on MSNBC'S "Donahue" show and listened to a fellow guest, a black activist, tell a white man to "kiss my black ass" and he was cheered by the studio audience. Yet when I complained about the perils of affirmative action and reverse discrimination, I was hissed and booed by the same audience (to the apparent delight of Mr. Donahue, a die-hard liberal if there ever was one).

And so I suppose Sen. Lott's plight should come as no surprise to anyone.

Only when the double standard is eliminated will we be allowed to have a fair and honest exchange of ideas. And the only way that wall will be brought down is when Americans grow a backbone and defend people like Trent Lott from the type of public hanging he's been subjected to.

Mike Gallagher's radio show is syndicated nationally by the Salem Radio Network and is the seventh-most-listened-to talk radio show in America (Talkers magazine).

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Editor's note:
Tammy Bruce’s "The New Thought Police: Inside the Left’s Assault on Free Speech and Free Minds"