Not Mistruths, Just Mistakes
It�s been a week of news, on the national level, centered on men who misspoke or misstepped.
Trent Lott, Senate Republican leader from the state of Mississippi, attended a 100th birthday celebration for retiring colleague, Strom Thurmond. At this event, he chose to say that his state was proud in 1954 to vote for the then-Governor Thurmond of Louisiana running for president. His comment continued, if the country had followed the lead of his state of Mississippi, we wouldn�t have had all these problems over all of these years.
And the problems to which he was referring?
Strom Thurmond ran for president as a states� rights and anti-integration Dixiecrat, opposing the civil rights policies of President Truman. He captured 39 southern electoral votes, including those of Lott�s state of Mississippi.
The easy conclusion, based upon Lott�s statement and Thurmond�s political position during his presidential race, was that Lott also feels civil rights to be a waste of time.
And every media source reported this opinion.
So much so that Lott felt it necessary to
apologize for his comments, saying he misspoke.
One wonders if this apology is like the ones I�ve heard from all three of my children at one time or another.
Caught coming in 15 minutes past curfew, each of them uttered �I�m sorry� as was expected. I always felt that they were sorry because they�d been found out, not because they understood the true meaning of breaking the rules.
Speaking of breaking the rules, Pete Rose is back in the spotlight, having met with Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig in Milwaukee two weeks ago to discuss his possible reinstatement to baseball.
After 13 years of being banned when caught betting on the sport, Rose is still petitioning for reinstatement so that he is eligible for his place in the Hall of Fame.
Rumors have been flying that the lifetime ban is about to be lifted. Maybe we should let him back in, induct him into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York and be done with it.
He was a 17-time All-Star and the 1973 National League Most Valuable Player. He played in more games than any other Major League player, 3,562. And he batted more times than any other player, a total of 14,053. He also has, of course, the most hits, 4,256 (and the most singles, 3,215)
But I guess the exorbitant salary that he was being paid to play all those games and get all those hits wasn�t enough to support his lifestyle and betting became the answer.
How about this? Let�s let him in, but his plaque in Cooperstown will contain one extra line, a disclaimer.
Rose�s Hall of Fame plaque, with all his stats and glorious achievements, will also have to include:.
�Yeah, it�s true. I did bet on the game!�
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