McCain and Lott

McCain continues to kowtow to the Confederate wing of the GOP.

If you wondered how low John McCain would go in his pandering to the radical right, consider that McCain has sought and gained Trent Lott’s support in his campaign for President. Of course, McCain is in the habit of abandoning his “straight talk” principles whenever he needs racist votes, for example waffling on the Confederate flag issue during the South Carolina primary or endorsing George Wallace Jr. despite Wallace’s ties to the Conservative Citizens’ Councils (successor-in-business to the terrorist White Citizens’ Councils of Civil Rights Movement Days) or emplying the editor of the white supremacist Southern Partisan magazine as his spokesman, not just in 2000 but currently as well.

But I hope some reporter will ask Sen. McCain what promises he has made to Sen. Lott, and whether he thinks the Gentleman from Mississippi ought to be considered eligible to return to the leadership ranks of the Senate Republicans.

For more on McCain’s rather dubious character, see the Stop John McCain blog.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com