Monday, December 23, 2002

Republicans and race I commend to you Bill Bennett's essay "The GOP's Race Problem. . .  and ours", published at National Review Online.  He reminds us of who was for and who was against the 1964 Civil Rights Act: During the civil-rights battles of the 1960s, again, it was the Republican party in the Senate that gave LBJ his landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act — Republican senators like Everett Dirksen pushed the bill through the Senate; Democrats like Robert Byrd, Sam Ervin, and Albert Gore Sr. opposed that bill and, in fact, only four Republican senators opposed it while 18 other Democrats joined the Byrd, Ervin, Gore "no" vote. He also reminds us that Strom Thurmond broke from the Democratic party in 1948 to run as a Dixiecrat for President, and that he ran for the Senate thereafter as a Democrat.  He did not move to the Republican side of the aisle until 1964.  This all underscores the fact that, contrary to Hillary Clinton's commentary, we are far from divided between easily identifiable "good guys" and "bad guys" when it comes to race and politics.  We as a people have had our heroes and visionaries, but we have also had our share of shameful acts and rotten actors in our history -- Democrats and Republicans.  Our responsibility is to learn from and transcend the history of the past so that the history we create for the future is more honorable.  We should aim to improve ourselves as a people over the course of time, and this is a process which will take decades if not centuries.  7:50:12 PM     Stupid political comments, part 5 The OpinionJournal reports (12-23 entry) that Sen. Patty Murray of Washington has been quoted praising Osama bin Laden as a humanitarian: "He's been out in these countries for decades building roads, building schools, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. It made their lives better," Murray, a Democrat, told a group of Vancouver high school students last week. Her early response to criticism of her comments was unapologetic: Her office released a statement Friday crediting the senator with "having a challenging and thoughtful discussion about America's future" and accusing her critics of attempting "to sensationalize and distort in an attempt to divide." Her web site later offered the following as her own counterpoint: Osama Bin Laden is an evil terrorist who is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans. Bringing him to justice, dismantling his terrorist network, and protecting our nation from further attacks must continue to be our government's highest priorities, and I continue to vigorously support those efforts in the Senate. She's going to have to backpedal faster.   3:56:16 PM

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