Vacant Lott for Rent: The Trent Lott Press Conference Live Thread.

FOX News Channel ^ | 12/13/02 | Li'l Ol' Me

[section9]

Trent "Vacant" Lott is up to bat at 5:30 EST.

[mc10]

he did well but not well enough to avoid hurting President Bush in '04

he should remain as senator but not majority leader

[mc10]

he did well but not well enough to avoid hurting President Bush in '04

he should remain as senator but not majority leader

[EternalVigilance]

But did he really say that we need to 'build on the mistakes of the past'??

Whoever wrote that line needs to be banished forever to speechwriter Siberia.

[kcvl]

So, are you saying that all southerners are racists? Or just the ones that you don't like(confederates)?

[Darlin']

"wonder how much she has invested in Solomon, smith, Barney Frank? lol "

The woman is an idiot.

[Howlin]

OMG....where have you been all week?

At last, INTELLIGENT WORDS. I do NOT care what the Dems think; I think he's an idiot!

[Poohbah]

Later on, Bush has a friendly chat with Nickels or Frist.

"Today, I do you this service. Someday--and that day may never come--I will ask you to do me a service in return."

[kcvl]

I'm NOT excusing ANYTHING! I'm just NOT falling for ANOTHER RAT and MEDIA lynching! I'M HELL BENT ON THAT!!!

[usmcobra]

I'm sure they did ;)

And I like it.

The BET interview is the kind of idea that the Bush team would think of.

And the only way it won't work is if BET shows it 4 in the morning.

[section9]

And for those who do not listen the Bush?...

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[wingnuts'nbolts]

What has Mr. Sowell's experience got to do with this? Lott has not got a racist background, since segregation no Southern Politicians do. Trent was not responsible for the segregation in the South. In the 50's and 60's the world was turned upside down, especially in the South by Southern Blacks who had had enough! That was then this is now.

[Wordsmith]

I'm NOT in Mississippi! I can also tell my jerk Democrat senator to vote against yours. lol! Na Na Na! Doesn't that sound a little childish?!

OK, whatever. I am represented in the Senate by two Republicans - Gregg and Sununu. Lott's public comments on this have been unacceptable - both the comments about Strom's '48 candidacy, and his attempted apologies. I am in agreement with a number of conservatives I respect - such as Tom Sowell, Peggy Noonan, Michelle Malkin, and William Bennett - that we should not endorse Lott as the leader of Republicans in the Senate. Again, whether or not he remains a Senator is up to the people of Mississippi that elected him.

[Nita Nuprez]

Good gawsh. I'm getting all warm and fuzzy inside.

You and I agree on something. :-)

[Dan Day]

So Lott is saying he had "a platonic Father-Son relationship with Thurmond."

Um, dare I ask, "as opposed to what other kind?"

[kcvl]

What rehabilitation? Because someone behind the scenes(with a fax machine to the media) made a big deal about a stupid remark?

[Dan Day]

Why is everyone coming down on Lott for supporting thurmond... why isn't THURMOND HIMSELF being raked over the coals...???

You're missing the point. Thurmond has long ago repudiated the segregationist Thurmond of 1948. Lott, on the other hand, recently expressed fawning nostalgia for the segregationist Thurmond of 1948.

Lott's a blithering idiot, at *best*.

[EternalVigilance]

I was asked why Lott couldn't change when Roy Innis did.

That was the context, if you go back and read.

[Dan Day]

That's not the only "blast from the past" nonsense you'll find. If you look closely at some of the comments, you'll find the "they do it, too" defense, the "held to a different standard" defense, the "stand by your man" defense, and the "bigger fish to fry" defense. It was laughable coming from the Dems' party hacks during impeachment, but it's positively shameful when our own make the same tired "arguments."

*applause*

[Paladin2b]

So, are you saying that all southerners are racists? Or just the ones that you don't like(confederates)?

Not that my post said anything about Southerners other than Trent, but, what the hell, I'll answer anyway...

NO, not all southerners are racist. Duh. You can put away your strawman now, little Johnny Reb.

And NO, I don't like neo-Confederate nitwits who try to hijack the conservative movement for their own ends. Let me be blunt...the CSA was not a romantic "moonlight and magnolias" Lost Cause in search of "State's Rights" or other such code words...it was a criminal conspiracy against the legitimately elected REPUBLICAN government of the United States. Conservatism in this country will prosper if we can keep the pus-guts like you OUT of the GOP.

[Wordsmith]

"STUNNING: I'm still reeling from watching Trent Lott's bumptious, smug, self-congratulatory self-defense. Leaving aside his noxious past, his sheer inability to convey any genuine remorse is reason alone to justify his removal from his position. His "apology" was formulaic, cheery, rote and unpersuasive. I still don't think he acknowledges the gravity of what he said over a week ago. I don't think he understands the central place of the civil rights movement in the construction of this country's modern existence. I don't think he even faintly fits into a Party of Lincoln. His pugnacious tone, his craven invocation of his working class past as somehow something that innoculates him from criticism, his lack of solemness, his grinning and laughing in the question and answer session indicates to me that he still doesn't get it - and he never will. He asks us to forgive him. That is not the issue. He says he's not a racist: "I'm not about to resign for an accusation for something I'm not." Again, not the issue. I do not know and cannot know what Lott believes in his heart. I do know what he has said and done in the past. This was not a one-off gaffe. It was part of a pattern of consistently voting and speaking as if he did indeed regret desegregation. His statement last week was damaging precisely because it makes more sense of Lott's career in racial matters than any other plausible explanation. As long as he remains Senate Majority Leader for the Republicans, the G.O.P. will therefore have little or no credibility on racial issues - or any other civil rights issues. And they won't deserve to. Ultimately the responsibility for this debacle will lie with the president. His rebuke was welcome. But those who suspect it was window dressing - a means not to be rid of Lott but to give him cover to continue - will be very hard to refute. In my view, this performance has turned a terrible situation for the GOP into a genuine crisis. It reminds every non-partisan supporter of the GOP and many partisan Republicans the truly dark side of conservatism. You can't acquiesce to these people; you can't appease them. Leaving them in power - as spokespeople for a party allegedly trying to be inclusive - is tantamount to endorsing them. Trent Lott must go. Now more than ever." - Andrew Sullivan