I’ve always thought that for all the jokes about age and longevity in office, the
one line that really captures how long Strom Thurmond has been around is this: he ran for president against Harry Truman.
Do you really have to say any more than that?
Of course, Thurmond ran as the presidential candidate on the “States-Rights Democrat” or “Dixiecrat” ticket — a candidacy that was based exclusively and explicitly upon the preservation of legalized segregation and opposition to voting rights and civil rights for blacks.
There’s a sort of agreement in 
Washington these days — with Thurmond’s retirement and hundredth birthday — to sort of forget about all that unpleasantness.
But look at what Trent Lott said about that candidacy yesterday…
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 of followed our lead we wouldn’t of had all these problems over all these years, either.
Oh, what could have been!!! Just another example of the hubris now reigning among Capitol Hill Republicans.
