Posted on 05/10/2005 9:13:36 AM PDT by watsonfellow
Tony Snow just finished an interview with Trent Lott. Senator Lott wanted to respond to an article in Roll Call to the effect that he had crafted a deal to dump certain judges to guarantee others an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. According to an account (I didn't hear the interview), Lott called the report "exaggerated," adding that he has worked with Ben Nelson "from time to time" on a deal, but that the proposed deal "isn't much of a deal at all." Lott also stated that he won't accept criticism from Republicans for working with Democratic senators because "they're the same ones who threw me overboard. I'm free. I don't have to work with them anymore." Lott called the Senate a "dysfunctional institution." Lott may consider himself part of the solution to this problem, but in the context of the confirmation battles that remains to be seen.
Just out of curiosity, how many of those who have replied here actually listened to the whole Tony Snow interview?
I would make three points about what Trent said in his interview that I didn't see mentioned in any of the other posts:
1. Trent stated he was not an outrider on this effort, he was keeping Frist informed of his progress - and Frist supported his efforts. Trent is Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, and this proposed rule change falls under the jurisdiction of his cmte. He also said he didn't give Frist every detail of the ongoing negotiations, but Frist supported Trent in his efforts.
2. Trent said no judges would be left behind - all of them would get an up-or-down vote in the Senate. There would be no way to pick who gets a vote and who doesn't among these qualified jurists. He also stated that a minority of the minority was not going to have their way.
3. Part of the reason for these negotiations was to assure the more liberal Republican Senators from the NE part of the US that everything possible was tried before the "constitutional" option was invoked on the floor.
These aren't quotes, but the gist of what he was saying.
As a final note, Trent got a raw deal from his fellow Republican senators during the Thurmond kerfuffle, and he has every right to remember that and act as he sees fit.
His comments re: Thurmond pointed it out very clearly: Not only did Lott have no huevos, he had no brains. The reason he kept on getting rolled byt the dembots was 1. He is a wuss and 2. He doesnt have an ounce of common sense
I remember...it was a national embarrassment. Lott acted as if he was dropped down from Mars without a single natural feeling, impulse or value.
Look at his history as majority leader...he got exactly what he stood for, a pragmatic political solution. Perhaps if he had been more loyal to a conservative agenda he would have had a longer list of loyalists who would have stood in support.
Shouldn't we treat the RINOS the same way, aren't they the ones who are empowering the DIMS to block almost every plan the President sends to Congress and causing delays on every candidate for positions on the Supreme Court and other important offices.
Both the House of Representatives and the stinking Senate are bloated with do nothings and are impediments to the success of many good pieces of legislation sent to them, in most cases, for the good of this nation?
It would seem a real good purging of both Bodies would be very beneficial!
I'm sick to my stomach with these self serving scumbags, how about others who probably feel the same way?
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