Reply #11: I'm still mad about the day Strom Thurmond spoke at my high school [View All]

[jdsmith]

(Dorman High, Spartanburg, SC) in 1972. It was the student council installation and he was the featured speaker. There we were, a thousand or so ardent Nixonians and a few of us who were playing with the idea of McGovern. I was expecting Strom to do the decent thing and flatter the young'uns for doing such a good job in the election, etc.--for him to be cheesy, but polite.

Instead the miserable old gasbag (he was already old in '72) launched into a diatribe against "libbles" (Stromian for "liberals") which concluded with "Jeeyane Fawnduh is dah scoim ub dah oith."

"Damn," I thought (or maybe "Darn"--I was a good boy). "These guys will do anything to win this election, even rant in front of fifteen-year-olds."

So I decided that I would never vote for anyone with such ugly manners or anyone she or he spoke for.