Isn't it ironic that 100-year-old Strom Thurmond managed to die on the same day the Supreme Court made such progress for gay rights in Lawrence v. Texas?
I can't say I'll miss the old-school racist prick much, but I guess he deserves some kind of recognition for the many, many years of "public service" he put in. So here's my heartfelt remembrance:
My favorite memory of Strom Thurmond is from 1991, during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. It's not of anything Strom actually did or said, but rather of Dave Barry's parody of what Strom was doing and saying.
Barry parodied the "questioning" by Senators Biden and Kennedy and the "testimony" of Clarence Thomas at those hearings in a "fake transcript" format. Well into the fake proceedings, Strom Thurmond finally speaks up (wakes up?) and utters this single pithy statement for the record:
SEN. THURMOND: Soamwhoan ben crudin' mheah widm tan' bfust drang.
TRANSLATOR: He says, "Somebody has colored my hair with what appears to be Tang breakfast drink."
I still laugh every time I think about it, even though twelve years have now passed. You can read Dave's entire parody here. Buh-bye, Senator Thurmond. Thanks for the memories.