Apology dos and don'ts
Wise words about how not to apologize, with illustrations drawn from life and current events, by Fritz Schrank. Saddam, Trent, take note.
You know, as I've said before, I have no idea whether Trent Lott is actually an out and out racist, but I have such a low opinion of the man that I wouldn't be surprised. Maybe so, maybe not. I do believe that his statement must have been a mistake, an attempt to be funny, or gracious (or something) that went horribly awry. He cannot possibly have intended to align himself and his party to the "dark side," a dark side that even the man he was attempting to honor had long since repudiated, a dark side that close to 100% of us regard as a horrifying relic of a distant past. Like the Spanish Inquisition, the Black Death, fascism cum anti-Semitism, smallpox. (Hey wait a minute, those last two are having a comeback, too...) He had to have known that it would be a kind of political suicide, a generous gift to his opponents, an embarrassment to his allies (if there still are any), red meat to the usual political correctness suspects, anathema to his own party, and an offense to the sensibilities of good and decent folks everywhere. He can't have done that on purpose.
I really don't know what to make of his non-apology (I'm very sorry that some of you people didn't realize how wrong you were to be offended...) or his wan reference to Jim Crow as "discarded policies." Now it turns out that, in fact, he has said the same thing before. Was this ever really such an applause line in his constituency? And even if it was, can't he find some new material? God help 'em, if so, God help him if not. God help the Republicans if they allow this mediocre idiot to remain as the number two man to represent their party in the national arena. And God help us all if this sets a precedent for a new wave of politically correct language-scrutiny. There is not a single constituency, interest group, ideology, party, faction or individual who benefits from this situation. Everybody loses. (I think Lott should go, but I'm not too impressed with the Democratic Party's approach to this: I heard Nancy Pelosi on TV last night say something like "we accept his apology, but he can't change the words that came out of his mouth." Wrong angle. "The words" aren't the problem.)
As for Lott, something's going on here that I can't see. There must be. It just boggles the mind that a man could be this stupid. All he would need to do is to include some kind of statement affirming the goals of the civil rights movement, and a mostly unequivocal, only marginally mealy-mouthed repudiation of Jim Crow. The brouhaha would still be a liability, but defenders would step up, Sean Hannity would say "Byrd" whenever Alan Combs said "Lott," and it would all blow over, vapidity as usual. He has to know it. Why won't he do it? Why won't he even try? I don't get it. As it is, he has given his party a choice: hound me out of office or say goodbye to your dreams of an Emergent Republican Majority.
As it happens, I think it's too late: all the damage control in the world probably won't save Lott now. I'm pretty sure the Republicans will do the right thing, if only because they have no other choice. I have to say, though, that Bush's silence isn't encouraging. And they were foolish enough to back him before, knowing full well that he was a liability. He has been the least-noticed prominent mediocrity in America for a long, long time. But no longer.
Posted by Dr. Frank at December 11, 2002 09:13 AM | TrackBack