More thoughts on the Lott event:


After listening to this all day on the radio, and reading the reactions of lots of non-leftists, I think we are as much in thrall to political correctness as ever. I keep trying to tell myself that Lott should be thrown to the wolves, but I keep thinking why? Because he said something offensive? That's basically what it boils down to.


I'm not denying that there is racism in this country, just as there is sin in all of us. I think that some residue of it still remains in all white southerners and in the rest of us to a lesser degree. And I do mean the rest of us, including blacks, aborigines, asian, latinos, etc. But we're not going to get rid of it by hammering each other over it.


Politicians are not like you and me. They have to weigh their words according to who is listening. But it gets harder the longer they live. Robert Bird in revery told Tony Snow that there were white "niggers." I've heard that before, as a justification for the past and for continuing to use the word in spite of the temper of the times. I considered it then, as I do now, to be a vestige of growing up in the South before the 1960's. That South is gone, though it still remains in the memories of all who lived it. I think we should let it be gone.
It is no longer anything to be afraid of. It will die forever as its veterans die. We should let it.