Using Hate to Feed the State: The Case of Trent Lott Illustrates the Establishment Media's Use of a Totalitarian Tactic Described in George Orwell's 1984. (Smear)

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"A lot of people in Washington have been trying to nail me for a long time," commented former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) shortly after his forced resignation from that post. "When you're from Mississippi, when you're conservative and when you're a Christian, there are a lot of people that don't like that. But I fell into their trap and so I have only myself to blame."

Senator Lott provoked a media hurricane with his remarks during a birthday party for retiring South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond last December. Referring to Thurmond's 1948 presidential bid as the nominee of the States' Rights Party (which defended state-imposed segregation of the races), Lott suggested that if Thurmond had won the presidential race, then "we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years."

Although televised live by the C-SPAN television network, Lott's comments initially caused little stir. However, within 72 hours the media had been handed a new script: Lott's off-handed praise for Thurmond was a covert endorsement of racism and enforced segregation. The mainstream media, including TV, radio, and newspapers, tirelessly denounced Lott for supposedly endorsing official racism. Lott's supposed friends and allies in the Republican Party leadership -- …