Lonzie Cox – 3/10/09

This page was last updated on March 15, 2009.

Don’t be too quick to judge Burris; Lonzie Cox, Jr.; Beaver County Times; March 10, 2009. I am not related to Mr. Cox.

Most of Mr. Cox’s 35+ letters since 2004 are tinged with race.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Like most of media-brainwashed America, I was prepared to scoff at and ridicule Roland Burris when he was appointed to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox misrepresents the situation. The problem initially wasn’t Mr. Burriss or “media-brainwashed America.” I don’t recall anyone “scoffing” or “ridiculing” Mr. Burris personally. Indeed, every piece I saw referred to Mr. Burrris favorably. The issue had to do with a governor (Blagojevich) accused of influence peddling appointing a senator.

“But when I heard Burris speak for himself, it was clear that here was a courageous, intelligent man who actually was well qualified to be a senator.”

[RWC] Simply hearing Mr. Burris speak convinced Mr. Cox that Mr. Burris “was a courageous, intelligent man who actually was well qualified to be a senator?”

“While again under attack recently, Burris vowed to not resign that seat no matter what. I agree with him, one reason being the flimsy evidence presented against him and another being that the chance of another African American entering the Senate is equal to those of a snowball’s chance in Haiti.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox didn’t say why Mr. Burris is “again under attack.” Based on news reports from just about every news source, Mr. Burris lied under oath about contacts he had with then-Gov. Blagojevich and/or his staff before his appointment. At the very least, it appears Mr. Burris was less than forthcoming when questioned about his contacts. Further, when confronted with his apparent lying, Mr. Burris has given multiple accounts of what happened.

Note what’s important to Mr. Cox. Mr. Cox appears willing to overlook alleged lying under oath because “the chance of another African American entering the Senate is equal to those of a snowball’s chance in Haiti.”

“Also, there have been some really bad senators who served for decades — ‘Pitchfork’ Ben Tillman, Strom Thurmond, Richard Russell, James Eastland, Jesse Helms, Trent Lott and Rick Santorum.”

[RWC] Mr. Cox doesn’t describe why these men were “really bad senators who served for decades” and I’m not going to waste my time doing his research. With the exception of Mr. Santorum, all were Democrats for all or part of their political careers. Further, while Messrs. Santorum (12 years) and Lott (18 years) served as senators for more than 10 years, neither “served for decades.”

Note who isn’t in this list. Though Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) was a KKK member, filibustered/voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and was the only senator to vote against the Supreme Court nominations of both Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas, Mr. Cox never has a bad word to say about him.

“Burris will be better than all those people. And what if Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. Dubois, Martin Luther King Jr. or Jesse Jackson Sr. could have been senators? By their dedicated work toward improving all Americans’ lives, we would be a much better country by now.”

[RWC] Make no mistake about it. Mr. Cox believes these men would have good senators simply because they were/are black and leftist. In “fairness” to Mr. Cox, he would be all over Mr. Burris if Mr. Burris were a Republican.