CSPAN — Strom Thurmond's daughter subject of discussion

First caller was an interesting apologist. Said you had to join the supremacists or they would castrate you. This shows he had to take his positions for political reasons, but felt differently about blacks.

So having sex with a teen, bearing an illegitimate daughter and being a hypocrite IS a good thing. :eyes:

However, Thurmond did not have to take advantage of the young lady.

Nor, regardless of his taste for sixteen-year-old black girls who need a job, did he have to make defense of Jim Crow the cornerstone of his polical career.

Strom Thurmond was not a positive influence on American politics or life.

in its historical context, but he should have acknowledged and apologized while he was still alive. He chose the way of a coward.

calling what happened here "sex" does not give justice too the act.
Being she was a sixteen year old black girl in the south in the nineteen-twenties.This was purely rape, I hear talk about the age of consent,I do not believe this poor little girl had much of a choice.
It just might have been lay down with this pervert or lose your job.
My mom always said "say nothing but good about the dead",in this case
I find nothing good to say.

It would be easy to make too much of this story. That Thurmond fathered a child by a black girl almost eighty years ago doesn't have a lot to the willful mishandling of the war on terror, the budget deficit created under the weight of upper-class tax cuts or the assault on civil liberties, including the right to vote.

In that context, the Strom Thurmond tale is in the lacikobejacko category. I'm sure it will sell a lot of soap. To the owners of mainstream media, it has the added benefit of taking up air time and print space that can be devoted to more immediate concerns of which the public should be informed.

I pretty much expected DUers to use this story to ridicule Strom, talk about statutory rape--the usual.

I grew up in NC; I disliked Strom just as badly as anyone else on this board. I am not an apologist for past or current disgusting racists- no matter what part of the country they happen to be in.

I think there is the possibility that there is more to this story than is being told: Note the name of Essie Mae Washington-Williams mother- Carrie Butler, of Edgefield, SC.

Edgefield, SC was also the home of Andrew Pickens Butler, Senator(D) from SC from 1846-1857. Carrie Butler could have very well been the granddaughter of former slaves of the Butler family.

I think it would be historically fascinating to find out if this woman could be related to two Senators from SC. I have no idea what the chances are of that, but I would say that it's a possibility.

Stephanie

I believe it was also common practice for a slave to assume the surname of his master. Ms. Butler could very well have either a descendant of Senator Butler, or one of his relatives, or simply of a slave who was owned by the Butler family.

I agree that the possibility is fascinating. However, if she is, how much space are they going to devote to it on CNN? Just mentioning it will do, thank you. Showing footage of the tests being taken and the samples analyzed and intervewing the lab technicians and discussing DNA and giving a full biograpy of Senator Butler would be a waste of time, at least on a national news cast.

I think a fair discussion is in order too. Historical and contemporary prospectives are important to understand how such things occur. Rediculing Strom is not my focus nor is it the focus of most DUers. Strom's influence in and as part of history of hypocrisy that is the Republican party should, obviously, be the focus.

If she had come out with this while Thurmond was still alive, she could have saved the American people alot of trouble by having him voted out. Instead, she chose the safe way, and now she's doing nothing but kissing up.

to criticize a 78-year-old black woman for choosing not to go up against one of the most powerful political figures in history - who also happened to be her father. Despite the rhetoric, it is doubtful that it would have made any difference since this information was common knowledge for years and made not an iota's worth of difference to the people who supported Thurmond throughout his career. In fact, it seems that the only people who are really worked up about this now are white liberals who are just shocked! shocked! at Thurmond's hypocrisy. But South Carolinians and black folks in general have been aware of this for decades. No one made a big deal about it because it really wouldn't have changed anything.

It's easy for those of us on the outside to say what she should or should not have done, but none of us were in her shoes and we cannot possibly know her perspective.

I'm glad she came out when she did, but don't think any of us are in a position to judge her for making the choices she did.

He would not have been voted out.

he wasn't just paying lip service to the segregation cause. His fiery remarks indicated that he believed every word he said. He chose to run for president on that platform. He wasn't just "going along" to please his constituents.

I think once again the GOP hypocrisy evident here is shameful. Just like the ones who were condemning Clinton, Gingrich comes to mind, when they were having their own affairs.

I'm not a moral absolutist and I can understand the historical and societal contexts in which these situations developed.

However, the spin and the hypocrisy shown by the GOP in coming to his defense is offensive. It is quite similar to how they forgave Schwarzeneggar for his drug use and womanizing. If a Dem had had those skeletons in his closet, the would have been howling from the rooftops.