You seem to his accusers were under oath.

He didn't say "disgrace to his race" was taken out of context - just the KKK "joke", which witnesses said wasn't the case.

He was heavily involved in vote suppression efforts with trumped up charges that were dismissed in short order when they finally got to trial. But feel free to explain that away.

BTW, when I was a teacher, I'd make people redo misuse of plurals v. possessives.

Again, if there were any validity to the claim, Ms. Figures would surely have made much hay of it.

Mobile is nearly about 40/60 black/white. She would have gained much sympathy here if she could honestly claim Jeff was racist.

She did not.

The articles state, "Sessions said the comments were taken out of context or fabricated. He and his supporters argued that Democrats were using the allegations to reject Sessions over honest ideological differences."

I believe this to be true.

But thanks for the redundancy. Nothing like circular research. When my student's used to do it I'd send them back to the library.

Meanwhile, please don't spread rumors. It's ugly.

glad to oblige:

http://www.cqpress.com/ls/pia/pdfs/107/aljr-2000.pdf

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2009_05_05_GOP_s_Sen__Jeff_Sessions_leads_court_nomination_fight/srvc=home&position=recent

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/05/spurned-nominee-could-lead-gop-on-senate-judiciary.html

He didn't deny it.

He made the statements in front of witnesses.

It's not reported in only those articles.

Your doubt is very charitable, but not founded on much.

Senator Byrd says hello.

I'll shed no tears when Byrd kicks the bucket but at least the man publicly disavowed and apologized for his racist past.

How many on your side have done the same? Of course it might help if they stopped the barrage of racism first (Hi, Buchanon!).

Is it our fault the GOP decided the way to win elections was to draw in racist ex-dems?

Senator Byrd says hello.

Of course, he's a racist, but I guess that's a given seeing as how he's a southern Republican. Thanks for clearing that up for us.

Is it our fault the GOP decided the way to win elections was to draw in racist ex-dems? I mean if republicans really wanted not to be associated with racists they could take the self evident step of not associating with racists. Starting with Tancredo would be wise.

By that I mean there's been a steady ratchet effect on the right (what others have called the death spiral) that's been pushing the right grassroots *way* right. Today you openly hear people like Cornyn and Newt called squishs and moderates on places like redstate that feted them just 6 months ago.

Which wouldn't matter except these people exert considerable influence in primaries where they can and do try to kneecap their apostates even if it results in their losing the seat.

So far Sessions remains sufficiently ideologically pure but I have to imagine sooner or later he'll do something to earn a black mark.

I find them suspect. I seriously doubt Sessions is a racist. I doubt he said anything as racist as the article claims.

Sessions just defeated Vivian Figures in the senatorial race.

Both Jeff and Vivian are both fine people. Jeff is a Republican. Vivian is a Democrat. As are probably ALL the Figures in Alabama. I'm not sure what relationship Vivian is to Thomas Figures (mentioned in the article). Daughter in Law. Niece in Law. Vivian is holding a seat vacated by her husband, atty Michael Figures, when he passed unexpectedly of an aneurysm. He was famed for prosecuting the men who lynch Michael Donald in the 80s.

Since Mrs. Figures is local to me, and my work position exposes me to much political haymaking in these parts, if there were any validity to the claims in Ms. Wildeman's article, I'm sure we all would have heard about it leading up to her possible victory over Sessions. The atmosphere was ready for her to win. There is no doubt that this past Nov 4 saw more black Alabamans at the polls than ever in the history of voting.

That Mr. Sessions voted against various affirmative action legislation and investigated voter fraud, thereby irritating the NAACP, this isn't a flaw. It's a feature. He is, as I stated above, a Republican. I don't always vote R but I do for Jeff. He's stand up and a straight shooter. He doesn't seem interested in squandering state resources.

SO...if you have another source for the story I'd be glad to see it, but one author, quoting herself, well...I find it suspect.

Meanwhile, please don't spread rumors. It's ugly.

The reasons for his rejection, as I explained in this 2002 New Republic story had to do with a soupy mix of dubious and arguably racist moves, comments and motivations on the part of the Alabama native that led senator Ted Kennedy to announce it was "inconceivable … that a person of this attitude is qualified to be a US attorney, let alone a United States federal judge."

Later Kennedy would say the hearings created a ''clear and convincing case to gross insensitivity to the questions of race'' on the part of Sessions. His Democratic colleague, senator Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio, called Sessions a man of ''marginal qualifications who lacks judicial temperament. … A nominee who is hostile, hostile to civil rights organisations and their causes."

The tip of the problem was a 1984 case that came to be known as the "Marion 3" – Sessions's prosecution of three civil rights workers over what he perceived as voting fraud. As Lani Guinier lays out in her book Lift Every Voice, before 1965 there were "virtually no blacks registered to vote in the 10 western Black Belt counties of Albama".

But by the 1980s that had started to change. Through the massive get-out-the-vote efforts of three leaders – including a former aid to Martin Luther King – black voter turnout began to creep toward 80%, and a handful of black legislators were elected. That's where Sessions stepped in, charging three voting rights organisers with voter fraud. All three were quickly acquitted. Sessions's choice to focus on their efforts looked a lot less like good governance and a lot more like voter intimidation.

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.

''Mr Sessions ... stated that he believed the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Operation PUSH and the National Council of Churches were all un-American organisations teaching anti-American values,'' Figures testified. ''The statement clearly was not intended as a joke.'' Figures also said he was present when Sessions said he believed the Ku Klux Klan was OK until he learned its members smoked marijuana – a statement Sessions has said was clearly made in jest. ''I certainly took it as a serious statement,'' Figures said.

Your memory seems flawed:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/may/05/jeff-sessions-arlen-specter-judiciary-committee