AMERICA - The Right Way!! (Day 696) [Remember the Trade Center!!]

Various News Sources and FReepers | December 17, 2002 | All of Us

[Chairman_December_19th_Society]

We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail!

Good morning!! Do not let the victims of the attacks on New York and Washington, nor the brave members of our Nation's military who have given their lives to protect our freedom, die in vain!!

Secretary Powell announced, according to the London Sun, there are problems with the Iraqi arms declaration. The Sun also reports there are significant (numbers are given in the article - go to Drudge for the link - but will not be repeated here) movements of US and British forces toward the Persian Gulf area.

The United States announced it will field a missile interceptor base by 2004. The base will likely be located in Alaska.

The Supreme Court has asked the Solicitor General for the Administrations position in a key abortion case. The case centers on whether a law designed to protect abortion clinics can be used to keep people from posting information on the Internet about the doctors who carry out the procedure.

Canadian intelligence has surmized that country is being used by Al Qa'eda as a staging ground.

And an ABC "News"/Washington Pravda poll found that one-third of all Republicans and three-fourths of the people belonging to the Criminal Party thought Lott should step down as Majority Leader. Lott's fate in that regard will be decided by Republicans on January 6, 2003.

For AMERICA - The Right Way, I remain yours in the Cause, the Chairman.

[nicollo]

In 1908, William Lorimer was elected to the U.S. Senate by the Illinois legislature. Illinois politics were as filthy as ever. That means corruption as well as corrupt tactics. Lorimer -- or his friends -- used the former tactic. His enemies used the latter. The Chicago Tribune ran endless attacks upon Lorimer. The accusations outran the evidence, but by late 1911 it had become a national issue. Finally, the Senate picked it up. Hearings were scheduled.

The President, WH Taft, refused to get involved. He called it a Senate matter, and, besides, there was no proof as yet. The former President, ever adept at punching men of straw, jumped all over Lorimer. Roosevelt engineered a luncheon at which he and Lorimer were both to attend, then made a dramatic refusal to be in the same room as the man. Roosevelt's reformer allies, such as Gifford Pinchot and Francis Heney, took the crusade national. They gave speeches, wrote editorials, and endlessly needled Lorimer voodoo dolls

Into the 1912 election, the volume was reaching peak. The Senate hearings revealed that, in and out of contradictory witnesses and evidence, something ugly went on with the Legislature, but there was no evidence that Lorimer was directly involved. Pinchot, Heney, and Roosevelt turned Lorimer into a campaign issue, and tried to lay him in Taft's lap. "The bosses" was all we heard, a platitudinous, sweeping accusation much like today's reactionary use of the word "racism." Roosevelt, of course, used "bosses" mercilessly in the Spring Republican primaries. When confronted with it, he said that there were "good bosses" and there were "bad bosses." The good ones were his. Then, it got worse. Lorimer was a Catholic. Insidious hints at Vatican control threw the whole issue into a true frenzy.

Taft stood back from it, receiving vitriol from one side that he supported Lorimer, and thereby the Pope, and from the other, taking violent hits saying he wasn't defending the Catholic church. In his private letters he told everyone to scr*w off. In public, he kept distant. The fuse hit the bomb at the Republican convention in June, 1912. While the regular party man, Senator Bradley stood on the platform, Francis Heney, leading the Roosevelt crowd, shouted, "Did you vote for Lorimer?" Bradley stalked across the platform, pointed his finger at Heney, and shouted, "Yes, I voted for Lorimer, and when I did I voted for a man ten thousand times better than you. And the time shall never come when the great State of Kentucky will fall so low as to take moral advice from Francis J. Heney." A reporter noted, "All the uproar that had preceded this looked like a prayer meeting compared with what followed." Ten minutes passed before calm was restored.

The Roosevelt reformer crowd, the progressives, lost their head in "reform." They anointed themselves judge and jury of right and wrong. In the Senate, there was little to defend of Lorimer. Democrats would vote against him just to damn a Republican. Progressive Republicans voted against him because he represented the old time machine, which they wanted to replace with their own machine (by this time, Senator Robert La Follette had a well-run machine in Wisconsin and other north border states). Republican regulars had no love for Lorimer, but they hated his accusers more. The Senate voted to annul Lorimer's election, thus tossing him out.

It can be said that the pressure put on Lorimer by the Tribune, Roosevelt, and others led to his expulsion, which was the just outcome. It cannot be said that he would not have been expelled without that pressure. Hysteria is often its own child; it is always unnecessary. Taft, for example, would have come out against Lorimer had doing so not empowered his enemies. Because of their hysterical attacks, Taft had to sit back. He could neither defend nor attack Lorimer. The strategy worked for him, as he made out unscathed.

Definitively, had the Senate expelled Lorimer more quickly, the issue would not have gone away. I think it wouldn't matter either way. Notably, by banding together in defense of Lorimer, the regular Republican Senators were able to more firmly control their local machinery, something that was hugely important at the Republican convention. Had they abandoned Lorimer to his enemies, they might have also abandoned their own base to their own enemies.

These scandals are ever tricky, and no two are the same. The constant is the hysteria. The other constant is that ambitious accusers empower the defense. Our current scandal is being driven by the politically ambitious, and all it does it piss off the reasonable. My dear, loving, leftist parents, (modern) Democratic to the bone, think it's the stupidist thing they've ever heard. They don't care about Lott, but they don't want to see him fall to Jesse Jackson and the Washington Post, who've both done more these past two weeks to raise my parents' eyebrows than ever before.

In your post #25, you question if Lott will not now have to give himself to the opposition cause. The larger question, I think, is what does Lott personally and the Senate in general owe the President after all this? I'm hoping for a bunch of rides for Lott on Air Force One over the Holidays.

A lesson from the Lorimer affair is that hysteria and hysterical over-reaction to it often leads to stupid laws. The Lorimer affair was a driving force behind the 17th Amendment. It did not start it, it propelled it. Most unfortunate.

[Neets]

I predicted yesterday that he was going to get on BET, open his mouth wider and insert other foot.....and he did,,,to his partys' detriment.

[Dog]

Progressive Republicans voted against him because he represented the old time machine,

They had RINOS even back then.....:-)

Can't wait to read your Taft book.

[Mr. Mulliner]

I got that last load in the pickup and thought I'd better hurry off because the sky was growing dark. About halfway out there (we're about 7 miles out of town), it started raining lightly. By the time I got out there, the furniture had a layer of raindrops and I had to hurry to get it unloaded. Looked like it had been raining a while out there as there were puddles, but here in town it still hasn't rained at all.

I've got our new table and chairs in the pickup, but now I'm wondering how I'm going to unload them by myself. I may have to go and recruit my 81-year-old dad to help me a little bit, but I hate to disturbe his day again.

Did you see the picture that John helped me post last night? It's just another from our Holiday Party a week and a half ago when I played dulcimer and harmonica. If you didn't see it, just click here.

[Mr. Mulliner]

You are so right that he put another foot in his mouth. How many feet and how many mouths does that ol' boy have?

The more Lott speaks, the more I think he really is a bit of a racist. He's now talking about affirmative action as a good thing and apologizing for opposition to making MLK Day a holiday. Heck, it was Reagan who signed it into law. The Republicans have nothing to apologize for, even if Mr. Lott does.

And if you can't go to a black audience and stand up for your principled position against affirmative action, you've got no business being in politics. Opposition to affirmative action and race-based preferences is anything BUT racist. When Lott panders like that, he makes me think that he really isn't very right when it comes to race.

I heard David Horowitz tee off on Lott superbly this morning on the G. Gordon Liddy Show and he echoed almost exactly the things I've been thinking and saying about this.

[Dog]

Hey Mr.M I wanted to tell you the Eagles v Cowboys is the national game on Saturday night.....on ESPN get thee to a TV then.

BTW the Eagles will start A.J Feeley again......Detmer is still not 100%.

[Mr. Mulliner]

The Eagles are very impressive, winning without McNabb. I doubt the Titans could win a game without McNair. In fact, the week he got really hurt and didn't play well was the game we lost to the lowly Ravens - by one point!

Did you see last night's game? Pretty awesome performace by the Titans' defense, holding the Pats to 7 points and very few passing yards.

[habs4ever]

Frist may have higher ambitions, and being labelled a sausage maker while doing the job of SML isn't one to have on the resume.This is all a high wire act now, which is getting close to brinksmanship.I really wish Nickles had shut his mouth and done a vote on the QT...if at all.To do it so publicly has fed the beast, and ought to remove his name from serious consideration.

[Miss Marple]

Frist has said he is leaving the Senate in 2 years. He wants to get back to being a surgeon. I think he would do it as a service to the President and the country. That would give the people who are really interested in the position two years to line up support.

[Chairman_December_19th_Society]

now Ari is being asked why the President doesn't support affirmative action like Senator Lott does...

I know Ari cannot do it, but it would really be nice to call these folks on their idiocy once in awhile.

The media are the very ones calling Lott racist, and then they ask this question.

This means either: (1) Lott is indeed not racist and they've been cooking this story all along, or (2) afirmative action is indeed racist.

They can't have it both ways.

[MozartLover]

Kay, I will be praying for your m-i-l; also for you & your hubby & s-i-l, for wisdom, strength, and peace of mind.

(((hugs)))

[MozartLover]

"I'm also going to begin cleaning the garage. "

When you're done with that you can start on my attic.

Just got RoadRunner. Sheesh. This is so much faster!

[Neets]

Does it go "Beep Beep" when you open your browser???

[Utah Girl]

On MSNBC this morning, their poll was 'Is Lott a racist?' Sheesh, this is getting worse and worse...

[MozartLover]

Heehee.....nope.

But it sure is FASTER!!!!:) :) :)

[Neets]

WOW, I think I need to get it then..coz you can be on the phone and the computer at the same time right?? Does it break the bank???

Gotta dash to the home front now...I am looking forward to going to bed at a decent hour tonite,,I am incredibly tired.

[Neets]

Yup, it's like like that tiny snow ball that keeping rolling and rolling down the hill. Next thing yanow you got yourself an avalanche.

[Dog]

Jesse Jackson on Fox telling the world what actions Lott needs to do to get out of this mess.

OMG!

[Dog]

Count to 10 Jim.......1........2.....3...

[Common Tator]

I think in the days to come we will be hearing from more than one Republican who resents being thrown into the racist pot by Lott doing a CYA maneuver.

What does that have to do with anything? Lott is history on the national scene. The only question remaining is how much REVENGE will LOTT get? You may have noticed that he is working on getting as much as he can.

Politics is a team sport played by men with massive egos. Bush is the head of his Republican team. He had a player screw up. He came out and trashed the player,then went back in the white house and hid. The Republicans are leaderless. When disaster strikes, a leader has to lead. Bush is hiding and that always spells defeat.

Bush while hiding in the Lincoln bed room, sent out all the right wing pundits to trash Lott. All that accompishes is to insure Lott will try to take revenge. Brilliant MOVE!!!

They have not repealed human nature. Almost anyone could have figured out Lott would not go quietly. Lott will take some Southern Whites, and a bunch of northern Red Necks with him. Lott amazingly still has 45 percent support. It just shows what the true state of racial affairs are in the USA. Many southern whites and northern Red necks will not vote for the Democrat in 2004 that is for sure. They will sit on their hands instead.

It looks more and more like Lott will resign from the Senate and be replaced by a Black Democrat. Does that tell you Mississippi Democrats think whites won't come out for a Republican candidate?. I found it amazing that people actually put faith in Lotts statement that HE INTENDED to serve out his term no matter what. I intended to have Coffee this morning no matter what but I had Tea instead. Who besides Bush and Rove thought Lott would roll over an play dead?

Lott is taking care of LOTT's needs. Bush is in hiding, giving Lott the entire stage. Surely after this debacle Snowe, Chaffee or both will bolt. Why would they want to stay? I suspect Frist will get minority leader and never be heard from again. Who ever gets it will be trashed for life.

When a Political party is in trouble the Leader must take charge. NO ONE is in charge of the Republicans. This is the worst political blunder by a president in my lifetime. It has been compounded by the hour. This is a disaster and Bush is hiding under the bed in the White house trying to avoid the consequences. Impossible!!!! This situation proves is that Bush doesn't want to get his hands dirty and thinks that is a good strategy.

History teaches that politicians who are afraid to get their hands dirty end up getting their a$$ kicked.