NRO Staff on Sens. Nickles, Santorum, McConnell & Frist re: Trent Lott

National Review Online ^ | December 18, 2002 | NRO Staff

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The newspaper accounts tell us that Senator Trent Lott is taking the names of who is or isn't going to stand by him while he tries to maintain his hold on power by any means necessary. Well, so is NRO. We know the senators want this matter to operate by the super-secret rules of the Skull & Bones Society, but it's too important for that. Excuse us for noting the performance of senators at a crucial time for the GOP.

Don Nickles - Thank You.

Over the weekend, while Trent Lott's 49 other colleagues were linking their arms and holding their breath to see how his latest serial apology played out, Senator Don Nickles did the right thing.

This was not, despite the conventional wisdom, an act of ambition. One would have to think Nickles is a singularly stupid man to imagine that he saw this as a ticket to the top of the pile.

Of course his statement of the obvious--that Trent Lott has to step aside for the good of conservative policy and of the Republican party--would be seen as opportunistic (many allies advised Nickles not to go first). To Senator Nickles's credit, he did it anyway.

Meanwhile, as Kate O'Beirne has pointed out, Don Nickles's voting record, which the NAACP condemns as too similar to Lott's, should really recommend him. In contrast to Lott, he is able and willing to defend it. The sooner conservatives can defend principled votes at odds with the NAACP's agenda without Trent Lott's self-imposed baggage, the better.

Of course, it is difficult to parse what will happen in any prospective Senate leadership election. Nickles has his critics: for his ambition over the years to replace Lott, for the job he did as whip, and, now, for going first.

It is a token of the current environment among Senate Republicans that saying the obvious should constitute an act of courage. But so it is. And whatever happens with Nickles, whether he runs and whether he wins, at this time conservatives simply owe him two words: Thank you.

Rick Santorum - MIA.

NR loves Senator Rick Santorum, but he has produced some rotten spin in the current controversy. On Meet the Press Sunday, he seemed to defend Trent Lott partly on grounds that not just Lott, but the Republican party at large, has a racial problem.

Of the reaction to Lott's remarks, Santorum said, "And I think Trent Lott has gotten that message clearly. I think our other Republican colleagues have gotten that message clearly, many of whom have been working with me, but I think now understand the need for us to really be aggressive on a policy front."

So, Santorum located the problem not in Lott's clumsiness and initial unwillingness to deal frankly with its consequences, but instead in the policies of the GOP. This may have been a reflection of Santorum's praiseworthy work trying to reach out to minorities over the years. But it also forecast what would become on Monday night "the BET defense" — Trent Lott's suggestion that he needs to stay in power so he can get his colleagues aboard a version of the Congressional Black Caucus's agenda.

This is simply placing the interests of one man over the conservative cause. We are surprised Senator Santorum would be party to it. He was also, for such a principled and straightforward politician, uncharacteristically dodgy on Meet the Press over whether there would be a meeting to reconsider Lott's leadership.

But he did make his own position clear: Senate Republicans shouldn't even meet to decide whether Lott should remain leader in light of an event that would seem rather crucial to evaluating his leadership going forward. Again: They shouldn't even meet.

Now, his position has modified somewhat. Republicans should get together on Jan. 6 — three weeks from now, after Lott has made who knows how many more groveling apologies and abandoned who knows how many more conservative policies — and reaffirm their support for him ("Keep up the good work, Trent").

We realize that Senator Santorum is friends with Lott, and we admire his personal loyalty. But aren't there more important things than that? Aren't there? Senator?

Mitch McConnell - MIA.

Mitch McConnell is smart and tough as nails. There is good reason for his being frequently mentioned as a possible Senate Majority Leader. And anyone who loves the First Amendment owes him a debt for his relentless opposition to campaign-finance reform.

But McConnell is aiding and abetting an ongoing Republican nightmare, as he helps prop Trent Lott up to be a punching bag for the Democrats and to continue his sell-out apology tour.

In light of the hypocrisy of many of Lott's Left-wing critics, there was something satisfying (if not particularly high-minded) in McConnell's threat on Sunday to censure Democratic old-bull senators who have made racially insensitive remarks over the years. But this was partisan toughness in the service of partisan self-immolation.

Senator Robert Byrd is, unfortunately, not the point. Senator Byrd is not hurting the Republican party now. Senator Byrd is not causing — thanks to his ego and devotion to power — a drawn-out meltdown. Senator Lott is.

That McConnell is Lott's friend increases his obligation to tell Lott the truth: that he probably can't win this fight and that, even if he could, it wouldn't be worth it, not if he cares about the GOP.

The conventional wisdom has been that McConnell is well positioned in any Lott succession struggle, since he has demonstrated his loyalty (apparently the foremost Senate value) over the last week. But he could play that hand too long, since loyalty to the party ultimately should trump loyalty to the current Majority Leader.

Bill Frist - MIA.

Where is Bill Frist? Shouldn't a prospective Majority Leader for the Republicans exercise some noticeable leadership during this crisis for the party?

Frist is an attractive spokesman for the GOP, coming off an impressive off-year election, with a warm relationship with the White House. His work on bioterrorism has been impressive and farsighted.

But his foremost quality during the Lott affair has been playing cute — he's deciding whether or not to run for Majority Leader, and issuing carefully hedged, nebulous statements.

This is not an edifying spectacle, especially seeing as Frist stands to benefit from the fallout of two unfortunate products of the current environment: the backlash against Nickles for going first, and the media's pressure for a new leader without Trent Lott's supposedly racist voting record.

Frist can make it clear he doesn't want to glide into the post on the backs of his colleagues, by declaring definitively on Lott and defending the party from the obloquy being heaped on it by Left-wing critics (and by Lott).

Of course, if Frist wants to be president someday he might be well served by not becoming Majority Leader, a job that tends to compromise its occupants. Either way, he can demonstrate his leadership — whether as a future Majority Leader or presidential candidate — by helping bring this episode to a swifter end.

Come on, senator. You've made life-and-death decisions — this shouldn't be so difficult.

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Note: This is a combination of four separate short articles. The URL cited goes to the first article. There are internal links to the other three.

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It is a token of the current environment among Senate Republicans that saying the obvious should constitute an act of courage. But so it is. And whatever happens with Nickles, whether he runs and whether he wins, at this time conservatives simply owe him two words: Thank you.

Don Nickles--man of courage, but in retrospect you should have let Frist take point and take the first shot because now we face a much greater threat to the conservative cause--pro-choice Bill Frist as Senate Majority Leader