Whopper of the Week: Remembering Strom.
“Though his opposition to integration was a hallmark of [former South Carolina Senator Strom] Thurmond’s early career, his segregationist past seems all but forgotten.”—Lee Bandy, “There’ll Never Be Another Like Strom Thurmond,” in the State of Columbia, South Carolina, June 27, 2003.
“In the interest of pursuing the best possible agenda for the future of our country, I will not seek to remain as majority leader of the United States Senate for the 108th Congress, effective January 6, 2003.”—Trent Lott, Dec. 20, 2002. Lott’s resignation came after he stirred a hornet’s nest by speaking warmly, at a 100th birthday party for Thurmond, about Thurmond’s segregationist third-party presidential campaign of 1948.
Strom Thurmond was a dear friend, and I shall miss him.For American politics, the death of Senator Strom Thurmond brings to a close the Twentieth Century.Last September when the Senate paid homage to our longest-serving colleague, I dubbed Strom Thurmond “our Centennial Senator” whose life was part of the tapestry that is America. A school teacher, a judge, a governor, a philanthropist, he was, above all else, a patriot. Even in oldest age, he still had the spirit of the man who parachuted into Normandy to do his part in the fight to save Western Civilization.Strom has passed into history. His work here is done, but ours is just beginning. The rest of us can learn from his experience, build upon his accomplishments, and emulate his decency and his dedication to the land he dearly loved.
Love to say more, but I gotta catch a plane to Pascagoula. Kiss-kiss.