THE ATTEMPT TO UNDO AN ELECTION: I MAY BE RELUCTANTLY CHANGING MY MIND ON LOTT

dfu | 12-2002 | dfu

[doug from upland]

I have wanted Trent Lott removed from leadership since Impeachment. The spineless weasel had the votes to bring live witnesses before the Senate on national television that would have revealed the extent of Bill Clinton's sexual predator history.

David Schippers called it a SELLOUT. Schippers was absolutely correct. Could the prosecutors have changed enough minds to get 67 votes? We will never know. They should have had the opportunity to try. Lott is the one who stood in the way.

The RATS have been in turmoil since the midterm elections. They were shocked to their core. And now, Lott puts his foot in his mouth to give them the opportunity for which they have waited.

The same people who were not concerned with rape, perjury, obstruction of justice, intimidation of witnesses, etc., are suddenly concerned that a weak-kneed GOP leader (who is their best friend) made a really stupid statement last week, made the same kind of statement 20 years ago, and didn't want his fraternity integrated 40 years ago. We know what the South was like 40 years ago. It appears that Lott has led his public life since those days as someone who believes in racial equality.

Now, he is being a whiner and threatening to quit the Senate if he is removed from leadership. What a weenie. We don't want him as leader, but we need him in the Senate. It is blackmail.

Perhaps the statements will blow over soon. He is certainly damaged goods, but the GOP may have no choice but to keep him. The RATS will benefit either way. If he stays in his position, he will continue to compromise and kiss their RAT posteriors. That is Trent.

The more ominous scenario is that the GOP does the right thing to force him out. Yes, I believe if he is forced out of leadership he will quit the Senate and a RAT governor will appoint a RAT to the Senate.

So here we have the reason for the assault. If Lott stays, the RATS have an issue to fire up their base and they have a weak Lott right where they want him. If Lott goes, the Senate is 50-49-1, with the 1 voting for their team.

But it won't stop there. I suspect that the RATS are confident that either Snow or Chaffee might then see an opportunity to jump. Either of them could become an Independent and vote with the RATS. All of the effort by the GOP to retake the Senate will be flushed down the toilet.

This really is an effort to undue an election. The RATS, not surprisingly, are even doing it in time of war while al-Qaeda plans another assault on our nation.

We may have little choice but to reluctantly support Lott. Let's see how it plays out through the Christmas season (not the "Holiday season"). If he survives for another week, he may ultimately keep his post.

The real conservatives of the party, and those who really know how to deal with RATS, better sit Lott down and tell him the facts of life. If he is to keep their support, he needs to throw down his pom-poms, get rid of his light loafers, and start acting like a man. We don't need a wimp when we are dealing with the RATS.

President Bush made some strong statements as he clearly needed to do. Now it is up to the rest of the party to start fighting back. It is time to be reciting the awful, hateful, racist comments said by the RATS. We really do have an opportunity to stick it in their faces if we have the gonads to do it. There is no White Caucus, but there is a racist Black Caucus. It is no time to sit on the sidelines and wave pom-poms. Or is it pom-pons?

[TLBSHOW]

its from the internet rat sites

[alnick]

Bush did exactly the right thing, as I expected him to. He distanced himself and the party from the perception of racism that Lott thrust upon us. Bush was right: Segregation is NOT what this party or this country stands for, and we do not need the leader of the senate publicly yearning for what might have been.

[cynicom]

chancellor...

Show me anywhere that I said Lott was not a racist. I am not interested in Lott and racism, I am interested in the "politics" of the matter. Hang Lott if your desire and think you are right. I do not care. I am concerned about the political fallout, what is down the road.

[neutrino]

My compliments on your wisdom and insight.

[The Great Satan]

All it would take is for Lott to become a Democrat, and all would be forgiven.

So what? News flash: Lott isn't going to become a Democrat.

[freebilly]

Lott need not answer to anyone but the citizens of Mississippi

He's the frickin' Republican leader for crying out loud. His responsibility to the good people of Mississippi is fine and dandy, but if that's all he needs to answer to then he needs to get his sorry a$$ out of the leadership position....

[The Great Satan]

Folks; I strongly suspect that in the long run, because Lott has a leash on him now, we'll benefit.

Hmm, I noticed the NYT and Hillary Clinton didn't call for him to step down. Neither did Lott's good friend, Tom Daschle. They know what side their bread is buttered. This is Hillary's dream come true. Thanks, Trent! You really came through for the Clintons, one more time! Fabulous job!

[Digger]

If you all want him then keep him. I guarantee you that he is/will be a liabilty & watch out next election.

[Publius6961]

For all you who are saying "Lott isn't a racist", I'll point out that unless you're Lott, you don't know.

Funny thing is... that the same thing holds true if you say "He is a racist".

Yet you managed to weave a brainless attack on that very assumption.
Making inferences and then attacking them is soooo "progressive".

[twyn1]

Okay -- I've been more off than on FR this week (sidelined with a bad back) so I may have missed a few things -- just what was the timeline here ? -- this is how I understood it...

• Senate Session Ends (Wednesday ?)
• Strom Thurmond has Birthday Pary (Thursday) at which Trent utters stupid remark
• Nothing (Friday into Saturday) from the Press, etc.
• Jesse Jackson sends an e-mail or note to media source (which one ??) upset over the Lott "remarks" (Saturday afternoon ??)
• Louisiana Election (Saturday)
• Press begins coverage -- Daschle makes "not a big deal" type remark (when ?)
• Black Congressional Caucus begins "commenting" (when?)
• More press, more coverage, more piling on (Sharpton, etc.), 1st apology (Monday ??)
• Daschle makes new statement, White House makes 1st statement (when?)
• More squawking, press really heats up (Wednesday), 2nd apology
• Pres. Bush makes strong statement but does not ask Lott to step down (Thursday)
• Long formal apology and Q&A session by Lott (Friday)
• Press coverage may be slowing down (today)

Now -- my big question is this....if the remark was obviously racist (or if it even "smacked of racism") -- why was there NO outcry for the first two days ? And did the LA election have any bearing on what's been happening?

[freebilly]

You don't bench your most important player just because he's the world's biggest jerk.

Trent Lott is hardly the Michael Jordan or Bret Favre of the Republican Party. Whatever political capital Lott has accrued over the years has virtually vanished overnight. He's no longer an asset. He's damaged goods....

[jwalsh07]

Because James Carville wasn't ready for the offensive until day three. Lloyd Grove of the Washington Post said that Carville started contacting the media on day three. The anti-Lottites joined with the Carvillites on day four and here's where we are today.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Au contraire. The evidence is more like that he harbors some strange ideas regarding the GOP and the traitor Jefferson Davis, saying they were similar while playing games with neo Confederate groups. When you consider that as an experienced politician, he knew this history and ran his mouth anyway, yet seems mystified that people would be disgusted, you know something is wrong.

And let me ask this about Thurmond. Where is he in all this? Why hasn't he stated how wrongheaded those former views were?

[freebilly]

And let me ask this about Thurmond. Where is he in all this? Why hasn't he stated how wrongheaded those former views were?

The man is 100 years old. You actually want him making public declarations?

[aruanan]

And now, Lott puts his foot in his mouth to give them the opportunity for which they have waited.

Actually, Lott didn't put his foot in his mouth. I heard what he said. It was entirely innocuous. What is not innocuous is what people have been attributing to what he said. This is a coldly calculated attempt at a political lynching based on false testimony--the testimony of those who have, in a purely racist manner, falsely attributed racist overtones to what Lott said in order to benefit from the fall-out of the trouble they have attempted to cause (and pretty much have gotten away with, due, in large part, to too many people too willing to parrot what they've heard on the news, itself a willing accomplice in the lynching.).

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Sure. He's been sponging off us for years, its the least he could do.

[twyn1]

Hmm..was it Jackson or Carville who started the ball rolling ? I sense a definite undercurrent of "manipulation" and the stench of BS wafting thru' this mess, Daschle was positively "giddy" after the Landrieu win -- much more so than he should have been ???

[ambrose]

Well Cheerleader Trent has never done much to stand in the way of the Rat agenda. In fact, he has actively undermined the conservative agenda and put on a farce impeachment trial for Slick Willie. I don't see why you're wasting an ounce of energy defending Lott when a real conservative with a spine might replace him as senate leader.

If Lott ultimately resigns from the senate, then so be it. A special election would be held in November of 2003, at which time Chip Pickering would win. We can't be held hostage by this moron RINO Lott any longer.

[aruanan]

There is something the matter with this guy. The same thing is the matter with many of them. Not racism -- solipsism. The "it's all about me-ness" of the world. This is the sort of person who steps up to the plate when offices and dignities are being passed around. They have to be controlled. Madison was a genius.

Madison may have been a genius, but your friend is out of touch with reality. He is saying that a person who seeks to preserve himself when being unjustly maligned is being selfish. Yeah, and an armed robber and his victim are the same because they both want the same thing--the victim's money.

[ambrose]

And let me ask this about Thurmond. Where is he in all this? Why hasn't he stated how wrongheaded those former views were?

You're joking, right? It has been "Weekend at Bernies" for the past couple of years. Strom has literally LIVED at a DC Naval hospital. All he has done is walked down to the senate floor and voted the way his chief of staff told him to vote.