[Professor S]

I have no doubt there are more than a few bigoted Republicans in office in Congress. Strom Thurmond was almost blatant about his bigotry even to the end of his life (he died, right?) Look at Trent Lott too.

And there are also many Senators who want to go way to far in the opposite direction, as is emphasized in the link you gave.

Hate Crime laws are silly and WILL result in abuse of the constitution. There are already cases where people have been prosecuted and sued for using racial epithets. Now I don't condone the use of racial slurs, but we are a free country and if on e chooses to use them, they should be allowed to with the only punishment being that they make themselves look like ignorant fools. That is free speech.

As Dyflon said, every violent crime is a hate crime, and all hate crimes will lead to is the trampling of our inherent rights as Americans.

The problem is that I doubt many will fight hate crime bills purely of of political correctness. No one, especially not those in oublic office, want to be portrayed as racists for not going along with such blatantlt prejudicial legislation.