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    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions 'is not a racist': Supporters defend Trump's pick for Atto

    Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions 'is not a racist': Supporters defend Trump's pick for Attorney General


    By Leada Gore
    on November 21, 2016 at 5:24 AM, updated November 21, 2016 at 9:51 AM


    Jeff Sessions is president-elect Donald Trump's pick as the next U.S. Attorney General.
    Paul Gattis


    Colleagues and former law school classmates are defending Sen. Jeff Sessions, named as President-elect Donald Trump's pick as the next U.S. Attorney General.

    Rep. Martha Roby, who has served alongside Sessions in the Alabama Congressional Delegation for the last six years, said the attacks on Sessions are "totally unfair."

    "It's really a shame to see people tarnish the name of such a good man," said Roby, R-Montgomery. "I doubt most of the people attacking Sen. Sessions know him or have even met him. I do know Jeff Sessions and I can tell you that he is a man of the highest character and integrity. He probably has a better understanding of the rule of law than anyone in elected office."

    Criticism over Trump's choice of Sessions to lead the Justice Department – The New York Times referred to the pick as an "insult to justice" – center on his record regarding civil rights and allegations of racism.

    The allegations date back to his 1986 confirmation hearing after he was nominated to a U.S. District Court judgeship by then-President Ronald Reagan. During those hearings, former colleagues of Sessions testified he referred to the NAACP as "un-American," and once quipped he thought the Ku Klux Klan was "OK, until he learned that they smoked marijuana." Other testimony said Sessions had referred to a black assistant U.S. attorney as "boy."

    Sessions' nomination failed 10-8.

    He later called the allegations "heartbreaking."

    "That was not fair, that was not accurate. Those were false charges using distortions of anything that I did. And it really was not. I never had those kinds of views, and I was caricatured in a way that was not me," Sessions told CNN in 2009.

    Roby said the latest attacks are an example of the same type of smear campaign.

    "I'm reminded of former Senator Arlen Specter, who said that in all is years of service the vote he regretted most was the one he cast not to confirm Jeff Sessions for the bench. He said that because he came to know Jeff Sessions and understand his character. Our country would be very fortunate to have Jeff Sessions in a leadership role, and I believe if that happens his critics will be proven wrong," she said.

    Supporters for Sessions' nomination point to his prosecution of a Klansman for the abduction and murder of a black teenager, as well as his 2006 vote to extend the Voting Rights Act and his 2009 vote to confirm Eric Holder as the country's first African-American Attorney General.

    Rep. Bradley Byrne, another Congressional delegation colleague, said the past and present criticisms against Sessions weren't "fair or accurate then and it's not fair or accurate now."

    "Jeff Sessions has been in the US senate for 20 years. Those people that passed judgement on him in the confirmation hearings they now know him personally. They know he's a good man. They may disagree with him but deep inside they know he's a good man," Byrnes said in a recent interview.

    An unlikely supporter?

    Perhaps Sessions' most unlikely supporters is a high-profile – and highly controversial – African American attorney from Alabama.

    In a post on his Facebook page, Donald Watkins said he has known Sessions for almost 50 years, dating back to their time at the University of Alabama School of Law. Watkins said Sessions was "one of three white students who openly acknowledged my humanity and embraced me in the spirit of friendship."

    Over the years, Watkins said Sessions has worked to open the doors for minority vendors seeking to participate in Pentagon procurement programs and supported minority-owned businesses and communities.

    "I know from my 46-year personal relationship with Jeff Sessions and my 43-year career as an accomplished civil rights attorney in Alabama that Sessions is not a racist," Watkins wrote.

    http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/201...ions_is_n.html
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Thank you so much. I believe it's time for a law that makes it a felony to call anyone a racist for political purposes.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

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