Double Standard?

We may have a bit a bit of a double standard on our hands here folks. You see last Thursday during a speech commemorating Sen Robert Bryd's 17,000 vote, Sen. Christopher Dodd made the mistake of saying the following (emphasis added):

"It has often been said that the man and the moment come together. I do not think it is an exaggeration at all to say to my friend from West Virginia that he would have been a great Senator at any moment. Some were right for the time. Robert C. Byrd, in my view, would have been right at any time. He would have been right at the founding of this country. He would have been in the leadership crafting this Constitution. He would have been right during the great conflict of civil war in this Nation. He would have been right at the great moments of international threat we faced in the 20th century. I cannot think of a single moment in this Nation's 220-plus year history where he would not have been a valuable asset to this country. Certainly today that is not any less true."

Now the problem here is that Sen. Trent Lott made similar comments about the late Sen. Strom Thurmond during an event celebrating another feat of longevity; 100 years on this planet. Lott's comments, if you have forgotten, were:

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

Which echoed statements Lott had made back in 1980:

"You know, if we had elected this man 30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today."

We all know why Lott's comments about Thurmond could be deemed controversial, but maybe it isn't clear why Dodd's about Byrd should be. Well, Byrd is an ex-KKK member who a little over three years ago used the phrase "white-n****r" twice on TV. His full comments:

"There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."

You see where the problem might exist.

The double standard, at least according to some on the right, is tied to the lack of coverage this story has been given in light off the great deal of attention given to Lott's statements made in December of 2002.

My thoughts? Appears to be a double standard.
My answer to why the media might not be covering it as much? Nine-fold:

(1) April Fool's?

(2) Christopher Dodd is from Connecticut. Trent Lott was from Mississippi. Easier to paint a Dixie than a Yankee as a racist.

(3) Christopher Dodd is a Democrat. Trent Lott was a Republican. See comment above.

(4) Christopher Dodd's comments reference a range of periods, only briefly mentioning the Civil War. Trent Lott repeated, publicly, that Thurmond should have won when he ran for President. A campaign that featured the following statements:

"We affirm that the effective enforcement of such a program would be utterly destructive to the social, economic and political life of the Southern people, and of other localities in which there may be differences in race, creed or national origin in appreciable numbers."

"We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race"

"All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches."

Now, even though the term "ex-KKK" rings deep, the above statements made during a Presidential race are incredibly mind boggling. The fact that Lott said, more than once, that the country would have better had Thurmond won that election is very hard for most people to comprehend. Dodd's comments about Byrd are all hypothetical, and it would not be crazy to assume that Dodd was referring to the present day Byrd as capable of doing all the things mentioned in his statement. On the other hand Lott's comments make it clear that he meant the Thurmond that Thurmond was in 1948, as it was an actual situation, not a hypothetical one.

(5) Just wait. The double standard talk is "controversy" right now, but my guess is it just hasn't been picked up yet. This will get major news play. Yes, it has been on Fox News, but come on...

(6) In fact, maybe it is getting some coverage:

Outside the Beltway
Poliblog
Croooow Blog
Andrew Sullivan
Junkyard Blog
Instapundit
Amygdala

(7) THE LIBERAL MEDIA RUNS THE WORLD!!! See Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican President for proof.

(8) There's more to talk about right now. Today - - December 5, 2002

(9) There's more interesting stuff to talk about right now.