UPDATE: I just realized that what Alexander really meant was "some of my best resolutions are black."
That's pretty much what his staff told this person who called to complain that he didn't cosponsor the anti-lynching resolution:
I just got off the phone with a lovely staffer for Senator Alexander I called to register my displeasure with him for his refusal to co-sponsor the anti-lynching resolution last night. I told her I would like to have Tennessee's 2 Senators demonstrate a more high-minded, united attitude about such things than their counterparts in Mississippi, who seem content with furthering the racist South image that is their heritage.And note that she tried the lie I told you guys about yesterday, the "it passed unanimously." She also didn't respond to the question about why he doesn't cosponsor it now, since you CAN cosponsor retroactively even once a bill passes. Excellent work.
She was very polite and read a prepared statement. It started off with a little misdirection: assuring me that he did not oppose the legislation, and that it passed unanimously, and that he didn't co-sponsor "because" he had already co-sponsored legislation celebrating black history month, and that he intended to bring that one up again.
I reminded her that Senators are not forbidden from supporting black people more than once a Senate session, that I wish he would consider doing so more often on legislation that really matters, and that there was no reason for him not to have co-sponsored this legislation, or at least--now that it's passed as a voice vote--to go back and co-sponsor it now, so that his support is registered.
