The Rachel Maddow Show: Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III's Ugly Past
Rachel Maddow reminds us of Jeff Sessions extremely ugly racist past. Steve Benen weighs in on how poorly it speaks for Republicans to promote someone like Sessions to take Arlen Specter's place as their ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Maddow: In terms of him having this leadership role on the Judiciary Committee for the next year and a half, presumably Sessions will make that committee run very differently than having the senior Republican on that committee be Arlen Specter, right?
Benen: I think that's fair to say. You know obviously Specter was probably one of the most moderate members of the Senate. Certainly the most moderate Republican on that committee. Jeff Sessions for all the reasons we just talked about is much farther to the right and he'll be the public's face. You know we talked earlier in the show about the rebranding effort. It undermines the branding when you have someone with these deep and ugly racial problems from dating back a couple of decades and now he'll be helping, he'll be the public face of the Judiciary Committee, not only on judiciary, or judicial nominations but also on issues like civil rights laws that automatically go to the Judiciary Committee. So this is a problem for the party. It's a problem for the committee and I'm anxious to see how it turns out for them.
Maddow: I'm anxious to hear him explain yet again how the disgrace to his race comment was a joke. That will be great.
I didn't know this about Sessions. I mean I knew he was a total jerk but I didn't know this ugly side of him. How the hell did he ever get elected in the first place with a background like this?
His looks remind me of the mouse in the Tom and Jerry cartoons
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Sessions, R. AL.
Need more info?
Din't think so...
How the hell did he ever get elected in the first place with a background like this?
...(R)Alabama.
Let's see how far to the right they go before they fall off of the edge of this flat world.
Here in Alabama you'll make people mad at you if you try to tell them the truth here.They're proud of being ignorant here
I really didn't know they had people like Sessions any more. Sick people don't belong in politics at any level.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
Proof once again that the only place in this country where the Confederacy still exists in full flower is Alabama. And the party that once had Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower and Nelson Rockefeller has become the party of the Confederacy, bigoted, small minded and soon to be irrelevant. God, I hate redneck peabrains like Sessions.
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
from another benighted confederate state.
Hey Johnny Reb! You lost.
I think that I'm going to start boycotting products from the CSA.
I do not think there could be a clearer signal that the Pukes intend to block if they can and probably in any case obstruct the nomination of ANY Barack nominee left of Ed Meese.
I wonder when he will show up at the Judiciary Committee in a full KKK outfit? This will go over well with the base.
According to Wikipedia, Sessions once said that the KKK wasn't so bad except some of them smoked marijuana. And the Republican insanity freefall continues....
I feel better now. At least his first girlfriend wasn't a mule.
He's kept silent on the issue so far.
lol - your right, I don't know, I was giving him the benefit if the doubt, my bad
closeted repukes are a sad and sick bunch. This guy always seems very effeminate. Please come out of the closet, Jeff. Take the stall next to Larry Craig.
Sen. Arlen Specter said Tuesday he regrets his vote against Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) two decades ago that helped kill his nomination to the federal bench.
Sessions, who has now assumed Specter's former position as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, was nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 to be a federal judge — but Specter provided a key "no" vote after allegations were made that Sessions had a poor record on race relations as Alabama attorney general. Sessions has called those allegations false and unfounded.
*********************************************
Senate Democrats tracked down a career Justice Department employee named J. Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labeled the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU ) "un-American" and "Communist-inspired." Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups "forced civil rights down the throats of people." In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groups could be construed as "un-American" when "they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions" in foreign policy. Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to "pop off" on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a "disgrace to his race" for litigating voting rights cases. Sessions acknowledged making many of the statements attributed to him but claimed that most of the time he had been joking, saying he was sometimes "loose with [his] tongue." He further admitted to calling the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a "piece of intrusive legislation," a phrase he stood behind even in his confirmation hearings....
Another damaging witness--a black former assistant U.S. Attorney in Alabama named Thomas Figures--testified that, during a 1981 murder investigation involving the Ku Klux Klan, Sessions was heard by several colleagues commenting that he "used to think they [the Klan] were OK" until he found out some of them were "pot smokers." Sessions claimed the comment was clearly said in jest. Figures didn't see it that way. Sessions, he said, had called him "boy" and, after overhearing him chastise a secretary, warned him to "be careful what you say to white folks." Figures echoed Hebert's claims, saying he too had heard Sessions call various civil rights organizations, including the National Council of Churches and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, "un-American." Sessions denied the accusations but again admitted to frequently joking in an off-color sort of way. In his defense, he said he was not a racist, pointing out that his children went to integrated schools and that he had shared a hotel room with a black attorney several times.
Never heard of the guy before this weekend but, if he runs against Spectre, I'm contributing!
He was a democrat back in the 70's then came out of the closet to run for gov. as GOP he won then after getting us chain gangs and hitching post,luckily he failed to get us public hangings and floggings declared "The bill of right's" didn't apply to Alabama
Sessions has the most attached "attached earlobes" that I've ever seen. Odd.
Sorry, I just couldn't help but notice.
http://www.jafafahots.com
Isn't that pre-hairplugs Joe Biden to the left of Ted Kennedy(to Ted's right)?
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
how Howdy Doody-ish they are.
I've never seen change without a fire
decay of this great nation due to liberalism. Look at the way they flop around--disgraceful! Real Americans like their earlobes tight and squared away. And anything you may have heard about my actions relating to loose earlobes is scurrilous rumor-mongering. I may have said I like loose earlobes, but I was joking. I am loose with my tongue (especially around loose earlobes... can't help it... .)
…to make an absolute fool of himself. It will most likely be a priceless unforeseen failure.
Spector says that the Minnesota Senate seat should be given to:
Norm Coleman!
And we don't know our ass from a hole in the ground....Randy Newman.
people of color when it comes to who they choose for high positions and in general...NOT.
I hadn't known these things about Sessions yet, but now that I do I'm not surprised by it either.
I've never seen change without a fire
This guy looks like an automaton when he talks. Absolutely no life force whatsoever in that hollowed out shell.
Reminds me of Orrin Hatch with a lobotomy.
"The KKK is alright except for the weed." I can just see this asshole yelling at some redneck for smoking a joint, while some poor minority is being lynched in the background.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Sessions was a bigot and continues to be a bigot. But generally the bigots left the democratic party after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voters Rights were passed and found sanctuary with the GOP. No surprise. The south takes pride in their ignorance and bigotry. They parade it, show it off, and call anything different as un-American.
How does this guy get to be a senator?
Rascist electing rascist is that sick or what?
"In his defense, he said he was not a racist, pointing out that his children went to integrated schools and that he had shared a hotel room with a black attorney several times...!"
Great work, Incomplete...!
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