Daschle on Defensive Over Kennedy's 'Neanderthal' Outburst

NewsMax ^ | 11/15/03 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said Sunday that his Democratic colleague, Sen. Ted Kennedy, didn't mean to use racially offensive language when he called President Bush's judicial nominees - including two minority candidates - "Neanderthals."

Asked about Kennedy's racially charged outburst, Daschle insisted to "Fox News Sunday" he was talking about politics and not ethnicity.

"I think that there are a lot of nominees who are on the far, far right of the political and philosophical spectrum," he told FNS host Tony Snow. "I think that's what Sen. Kennedy was referring to."

But when Snow pressed, "Then why did he use the term Neanderthal?" Daschle turned defensive, telling the FNS host, "Invite him on the show and ask him. That's a question for him and not me."

Noting that Bush nominees Janice Rogers Brown and Miguel Estrada are African-American and Hispanic respectively, Republicans have seized on Kennedy's "Neanderthal" remark, complaining that he was getting a pass for using words that would have been career-ending for a member of their party.

After Democrats prevailed in their judicial filibuster standoff against Republican Senators on Friday, Kennedy boasted, "What has not ended is the resolution and the determination of the members of the United States Senate to continue to resist any Neanderthal that is nominated by this president of the United States for any court, federal court in the United States."

Though controversy over Kennedy's outburst continued to swirl on Capitol Hill throughout the weekend, press coverage of the incident has been sparse.

A Lexis-Nexis search on Sunday showed that Kennedy's remark has been covered by just three newspapers nationwide.

[demkicker]

Sounds like the only controversy about Kennedy's offensive remark will be amongst the conservative media. The lame stream press won't even address it, I bet.

[pfflier]

I want Kennedy held as accountable as the demoncrats held Trent Lott.

[SICSEMPERTYRANNUS]

What did race have to do with it?

[areafiftyone]

[F.J. Mitchell]

And the double standard continues. I don't believe our founding Fathers gave us a free press to cover the butts of the Demongobblincrats.

[pfflier]

I never mentioned race, neither did Trent Lott when they nailed him. The demoncrats sure can link anything they want to race though if it suits their needs.

Nail Kennedy on this one using the same tactic.

[bethelgrad]

I hear ya. It needs to be pushed and pushed until everyone hears about it. THing is, I don't think it was a big deal, like I wasn't a big deal for Lott ( or shouldn't have been). I mean it is insulting, but I never thought of it as racial.

[Analyzing Inconsistencies]

“I want to say this about Strom Thurmond: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.”

How does this even remotely compare to the Neanderthal remark for which Kennedy's getting a free pass?

[JimVT]

"Invite him on the show and ask him

Yeah, right....bet he'd jump at the chance to explain himself!

[jwalsh07]

I hear ya. It needs to be pushed and pushed until everyone hears about it. THing is, I don't think it was a big deal, like I wasn't a big deal for Lott ( or shouldn't have been). I mean it is insulting, but I never thought of it as racial.

Pretty good analyisis, I'm with you with one small caveat.

Kennedy is indeed a bigot but his bigotry extends to social and economic conservatives pure ans simple. The sooner people become cognizant of that the better.

To borrow a phrase used about Kennedy's ancestoral tree:

Conservatives Need Not Apply!

[hillary's_fat_a**]

I suggest everybody visit www.ytedk.com and read the excerpts from Leo Damore's "Senatorial Privilege" - when I read excerpts from this book, I was spellbound. Even though that book is now out of print, I ordered a used copy.

Fat Teddy's actions are inexcusable. This bloated whale does not deserve to be a US Senator - why the citizens of Taxachusetts keep on sending him back is beyond me!

[MHGinTN]

The duplicitous, seditious democrat leadership will quietly pat Ted'the swimmer'Kennedy on the back for sneaking that one in! Kennedy's remarks and the democRAT party defense of same is just more proof of their elitist societal engineering agenda ... as they hold the voting public in ridicule as 'easily herded'. To a Tom Daschle or a Patrick Leahy or a Jay 'Rockafellah', there is no such thing as a lie or a politically incorreect slur if it issues from a democrat.

[Mr. Mojo]

A Lexis-Nexis search on Sunday showed that Kennedy's remark has been covered by just three newspapers nationwide.

Would've been large-block, front page news all over the nation if a Pubbie had made the remark.

[Analyzing Inconsistencies]

As long as Kennedy does the NAACP's bidding, no matter how adverse the consequences are for the same blacks that the NAACP gets paid to at least PRETEND to care about, Kennedy will have the NAACP's backing.

[jocon307]

"I mean it is insulting, but I never thought of it as racial."

I agree, it is not racial, but it is VERY insulting. As hubby pointed out a good synonym for Neandrathal is Knuckle-dragger. It implies "unevolved", "primative", "backward looking", etc.

But am I anti-Irish-American when I say that Ted Kennedy is a drunken mick? Because I am very proud to be Irish-American and that drunken lothario is a disgrace to my people.

[fish hawk]

Only three papers nation wide carried the quote!! What media BIAS???

[Tabi Katz]

"A Lexis-Nexis search on Sunday showed that Kennedy's remark has been covered by just three newspapers nationwide." Let me guess: The New York Times, Washington Post and Los Angeles Times? HA! When the shoe was on the other foot and it was inserted in Lott's mouth, it was in the news for weeks as I remember.

[Qwinn]

"Sounds like the only controversy about Kennedy's offensive remark will be amongst the conservative media. The lame stream press won't even address it, I bet."

Bingo. Zell Miller's "lynching" comment got coverage in EVERY media outlet. Yeah, he's nominally a democrat, but he's now more than fair game because he has allied with Republicans. He will soon find that his protection is utterly gone.

Qwinn

[BlessedBeGod]

A Lexis-Nexis search on Sunday showed that Kennedy's remark has been covered by just three newspapers nationwide.

From what I can find, it looks like those three newspapers were:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Austin American-Statesman
The Washington Post.