Senator Jeff Sessions, hypocritical racist moonbat

A reader writes, "In his opening statement of the confirmation hearings for Sonia Sotomayor, Senator Jeff Sessions lectured the nominee about 'prejudice' in the legal system. The problem? He was rejected by the very same committee twenty years ago for 'racially insensitive' statements asserting that he thought that the Klan was OK until he found out they smoked 'dope' and calling white civil rights lawyers 'race traitors.' Here's a collection of the media coverage at the time scanned in on Flickr. [Ed: Scan above from Newsweek]"

Meet Jeff Sessions

• [Takuan]

  seems boinged, here’s the text:

  “Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children

  By Chris Parry, Vancouver SunJuly 12, 2009
  This photo of U.S. President Barrack Obama’s daughter Malia, wearing a peace-symbol t-shirt touched off a storm of epithet-laced comments on the conservative ‘Free Republic’ blog

  This photo of U.S. President Barrack Obama’s daughter Malia, wearing a peace-symbol t-shirt touched off a storm of epithet-laced comments on the conservative ‘Free Republic’ blog
  Photograph by: Remo Casilli , Reuters

  “A typical street whore.” “A bunch of ghetto thugs.” “Ghetto street trash.” “Wonder when she will get her first abortion.”

  These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative ‘Free Republic’ blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama’s 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front.

  The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, “To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds.”

  Though this may sound like the sort of thing one might read on an Aryan Nation or white power website, they actually appeared on what is commonly considered one of the prime online locations for U.S. Conservative grassroots political discussion and organizing – and for a short time, the comments seemed to have the okay of site administrators.

  Moderators of the blog left the comments – and commenters – in place until a complaint was lodged by a writer doing research on the conservative movement, almost a full day later.

  “Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?” wrote one commenter.

  “They make me sick …. The whole family… mammy, pappy, the free loadin’ mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin’, and especially ‘lil cuz… This is not the America I want representin’ my peeps,” wrote another.

  Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate.

  A note on the front of the blog reads, “Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government,” but one comment on the thread read, “This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution,” while another read, “I never actually wnated [sic] to be a pistol before but…”

  After attention from other blogs, the thread was suppressed and placed under review, but before long it was returned to the site intact, and attracted a new series of racial slurs when the original complaint email was posted publicly to the site, with the sender’s email address intact.

  “The writer has a point,” wrote site owner Jim Thompson sarcastically. “We should steer clear of Obama’s children. They can’t help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig.”

  “I agree Jim,” wrote commenter, by the nickname NoobRep. “The kids didn’t pick their commie pinko pansy of a father. Nor did they choose to be put into the spotlight. But Obama/Soetoro is fair game and so is his witch of a wife.”

  “Poor kids. I hope they’re not ‘punished with a baby’,” wrote another. “Hopefully they won’t deal cocaine like the Kenyan.”

  “DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our [White House] is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over.”

  Only after significant negative attention from a host of left wing political blogs did the maintainers of the Free Republic site place the thread under review for a second time, before finally pulling it.

  In the wake of the controversy, some Free Republic posters complained about the vitriol.

  One poster by the name of “fullchroma” wrote, “To Jim Thompson: The recent uptick here in racist vitriol, aimed at Barrack, Michelle and their children has made me wonder if I belong. My objection to Obama has nothing to do with skin tone. Is the ugly stereotype of Conservative racism true?”

  Another, going by the name of TChris, wrote, “Free Republic is a political discussion forum. It SHOULD be beneath us as a group to stoop to such juvenile tactics as I see increasing here lately. Do we REALLY have to insult Mrs. Obama’s appearance like a clique of nasty 14-year-old girls?”

  But such opinions were not shared by all. Said Roses of Sharon, “Poor libs …. Too late, the battle has been joined.”
  © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

• [Thebes]

  There are plenty of good reasons to distrust Sotomayor without bring race into the discussion.

  Sh ws (hs snc clmd t qt) mmbr f th Blzn Grv, knd f fml cntr prt t th Bhmn Grv. Ths grps r llgd t fst chld prsttts pn nw prtcpnts fr th prps f ltr blckml.

  Also, she is rabidly anti-gun believing that no civilian should own guns. She stated in the past that there was no right of the people to keep and bare arms. She recently ruled that Heller did not apply to the states, using rather bizarre and clearly antiquated (slave era!) cases while ignoring large parts of Heller.

  She also puts process before justice, even when the government is at fault innocence is no excuse.

  Another false HOPE.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Thebes,

    Please provide credible references for each of your (remaining) allegations.

• [Xopher]

  Yes, fullchroma, it is. And yes, TChris, they do.

  Maybe you don’t belong there. It’s not just a conservative forum; it’s a racist forum.

• [Anonymous]

  Claims of racism
  Prior to being nominated to federal court, Sessions had unsuccessfully prosecuted three civil rights workers (including Albert Turner, a former aide to Martin Luther King, Jr) on a scant case of voter fraud. Sessions had spent hours interrogating black voters in predominately black counties, which produced only 14 allededly tampered ballots out of the more than 1.7 million cast in the 1984 election. The three men were acquitted in four hours. Civil rights groups accused Sessions of aggressively looking for voter fraud in black communities while overlooking any violations among whites.

  During his nomination to federal court, it was revealed that Sessions had once labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) “un-American,” “Communist-inspired,” and that they “forced civil rights down the throats of people.” At his confirmation hearings, Sessions claimed that the groups could be un-American when “they involve themselves in un-American positions” in foreign policy. [2]

• [chancelikely]

  Moonbats are liberal lunatics, not conservative ones.

  Sessions is clearly a wingnut.

  Oh, and with a name like “Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III”, was he ever going to be anything other than Senator from Alabama?

• [Anonymous]

  His name is Jeff? He sounds more like a dick to me.

• [melanienathan]

  The futile testimony of the opposing GOP witnesses fell flat on its meritless belly, with its inability to acknowledge the desperate plight of Shirley and Gordon and their respective families. Senator Sessions sat stone faced through Shirley’s testimony and completely ignored her as if she was not there. Had I not been sitting in the front row, to witness this offensive parody I doubt I would have believed the the extent of the invalidation….. may I add to your commentary the article I wrote on June 3rd after I attended a hearing on UAFA with Senator Jeff Sessions as the new ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. My client, Shirley Tan and her family fell victim to his disregard…… http://oblogdeeoblogda.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/what-a-day-uafa/

• [John Napsterista]

  One man’s hypocrisy is another man’s irony.

  In this case though, as #1 points out, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III ist hypocritical wingnut.

• [TroofSeeker]

  I’ve been bantering back and forth with a fundie who’s an old friend of the family. He never has an original opinion- knows nothing about the Bible- always sends fundie/wingbat propaganda. One asked that everybody wear a red shirt on Fridays in support of our troops. Fine. I support our troops, so I got a red tee shirt with a giant white peace symbol on it.
  Why does the Peace Sign burn them like acid?? It’s a noble, humanitarian cause, right? Fuggum. I’ll wear it every Friday.

• [mccrum]

  It’s Americans like you who keep track of things said in the past that are truly destroying Our Country’s Glorious Way of Life.

  Once things are said, they should be immediately forgotten! Let’s not dwell in the past, the Future is Now!

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  Perhaps he *gasp* learned something and changed as a human being?

  George Wallace had the decency to repudiate his racist past and spend the rest of his life trying to make amends.

• [Marcel]

  Let’s disperse the moonbats and wingnuts over various colonies in this quadrant of universe, so they can evolve to become different species (hint: pointy ears vrs. tiny wings).
  And then, after eons of bitter conflict and intergalactic war, a third species comes along to scientifically prove that both were once belonging to the same species.

• [aldasin]

  It’s funny that the one thing he saw as a negative about the klan, that some of them might smoke dope, would be the only potential positive that I see.

• [buddy66]

  George Wallace had the political savvy to count the growing black voter lists and see which way the wind was blowing. Everybody loves a reformed sinner, even the black politicians he courted and won over. Whether he truly had moral regrets is debatable.

  Then again, who knows? Shooting his ass might have saved his soul.

• [Yankee]

  I recently moved to the south from a northern state. I am truly amazed at the gun crazed, bigoted, red necks representing the south in the US Senate and other state and national offices. Sessions is a prime shameful example of the rampant bigotry practiced in the south against not only minorities but even the less financially secure. Stinks !!

• [HeruRaHa]

  “Sessions was one of only nine opponents of Senator John McCain’s anti-torture amendment. Sessions supports former Vice President Dick Cheney’s proposal to exempt the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from any ban on the use of torture.” -Wikipedia

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/05/AR2005110500410.html

• [MarkM]

  Reagan tries to place him in the Supreme Court track, and he’s rejected by the Senate. Alabama shows them, and goes and elects him to the Senate. Now, /he’s/ approving judges and justices. Just goes to show you, you can’t keep a good man, or the great state of Alabama, down!

  This message brought to you by the noun sarcasm and the emoticon :|

• [Takuan]

  what do you expect from those?
  http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Conservative+Free+Republic+blog+free+speech+flap+after+racial+slurs+directed+Obama+children/1782375/story.html

• [LeavingHalfway]

  Oooh, Steamy, Thebes! Bare Arms!

• [Baldhead]

  Devil’s Advocate sez: The comments he made were over 20 years ago. Perhaps he *gasp* learned something and changed as a human being?

• [Anonymous]

  buddy66 – Wallace first ran as a Progressive on a civil rights platform. After getting his ass whipped, he uttered the famous phrase “I will never be out-ni**ered again”. Once elected with another famous phrase (Segregation then! Segregation Now! Segregation Forever!”, he quietly went about funding of community colleges, junior colleges and black colleges to provide an education path for minorities. He also had several prominent blacks as advisors, one of whom was a friends father. Once the general public had modernized their racial views enough, then Wallace gave his mea culpa, but black Alabamians always knew the score.

  Wallace knew he could do nothing for blacks in Alabama without being on the inside of the Capitol, instead of outside on the steps protesting. He did what he had to do in order to get where he, and blacks in Alabama, needed him.

• [Jonathan Badger]

  I’ve seen the usage of “moonbat” to include conservative crazies as well as leftist ones recently, even though ten years ago, it was clearly “wingnut” for the conservatives. I think the deal is that some neocons have embraced the term “wingnut” as an endearing self-label, so calling them a “moonbat” is more insulting.

• [Takuan]

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/14/sessions-becomes-the-subj_n_231620.html

• [telaquapacky]

  I’m a Moonbat. I resent you mislabeling Sessions as one of us! FEH! Ptui! Get your lunatics straight!