Posted on 12/18/2002 9:58:16 AM PST by RCW2001
JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, December 18, 2002
©2002 Associated Press
URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/12/18/national1216EST0589.DTL
(12-18) 09:35 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --
Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, fighting to surmount a furor over his racially insensitive remarks, complained Wednesday about anonymous White House leaks calling for his demise.
"There seems to be some things that are seeping out that have not been helpful," Lott said after a speech to the Chamber of Commerce in Biloxi, Miss.
"I understand how that happens because you've got a lot of people who work there that have different points of view," he told reporters. "But I believe they do support what I am trying to do here and the president will continue to do so."
For his part, though, President Bush declined again Wednesday to address the controversy when asked why his spokesman has repeatedly said that Lott should keep his job. Trying to distance himself from the racially charged issue, Bush has dodged questions about Lott since he condemned the Mississippi senator last Thursday.
But his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said Lott's since recanted endorsement of South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond's 1948 segregationist presidential campaign was "damaging" Republicans.
"It doesn't help to have this swirling controversy that Sen. Lott, in spite of his enormous political skills, doesn't seem to be able to handle well," Gov. Bush told The Miami Herald. "Something's going to have to change. This can't be the topic of conversation over the next week."
Officials close to the White House are suggesting that Lott step down, and Senate Republicans indicated they need to resolve the situation before the beginning of next year's Congress.
But Lott thinks he will survive. "I'm telling you here this morning, I'm hanging in there," Lott told the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce. "I'm going to find a way for myself, my family, my friends, you the people of Mississippi and America to benefit from this experience."
Lott, who told ABC News he has talked to almost all of the Senate GOP caucus, said he believed a "majority" of Republicans in the Senate support him. He said he would continue working to keep his job in the days leading up to a Jan. 6 meeting where Republicans are to decide his future.
Meantime, the Virginia NAACP called on the state's U.S. senators to dump Lott as majority leader. "We demand that our senators vote against Trent Lott," said King Salim Khalfani, executive director of the chapter
GOP officials are concerned that removing Lott from his leadership position might prompt his resignation from the Senate, which would throw the Senate back into a 50-50 split if Mississippi's Democratic governor picks a member of his own party to serve on an interim basis.
But Lott insisted Wednesday that he would not give up his Senate seat. "I was elected by the people of Mississippi to a six-year term," he told reporters. "I've served two years of that contract. I have a contract and I'm going to fulfill it."
Yet, officials said there have been discussions among senators eager to have a successor to Lott emerge as the party's leader when the Senate convenes under Republican control next month.
"There is now a substantial question as to whether Senator Lott has the capacity to move" the GOP agenda in the new Congress, said Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., one of the new guard of Republicans whose election last month helped deliver a majority to the GOP.
There was a widespread consensus among the GOP operatives and strategists that Lott must go. The opinion was shared by senior White House aides, but officials there insisted that neither Bush, political guru Karl Rove or his deputies were even indirectly involved in a campaign against Lott.
Lott triggered the controversy Dec. 5 at a 100th birthday party for Thurmond. He said people in Mississippi were proud to have voted for Thurmond at the time, adding, "if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either."
He since has apologized repeatedly, including in a news conference at home in Mississippi where he asked for forgiveness and forbearance, and on Black Entertainment Television on Monday night where he announced his support for affirmative action despite having voted against such programs in the past.
Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, echoing many others, called for a final decision to be made before the new year. "This matter has gone beyond the statement of a single individual to one of national importance, and unfortunately divisiveness and turmoil. As such, this situation should be and very well may be resolved prior (to) Jan. 6," he said.
One lawmaker who has spoken with Lott in recent days said the Mississippian appears to have the support of most members of his leadership team and many senior members, some of whom are in line to become committee chairmen and may value maximum independence from the White House when it comes time to negotiate over legislation. "But he was also fully aware that this thing is very fluid and dynamic," said the lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
There was no shortage of speculation about replacement candidates.
Talk centered on Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., the outgoing No. 2 Republican and a longtime Lott rival, along with Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and Rich Santorum, R-Pa.
©2002 Associated Press
Well, then, try providing something of substance to bolster your position, not just inane one-line posts spammed incessantly into the forum.
The old saying is perception is reality. That is what has happened here. Nothing that Lott meant to say or will say is going to change that perception. Bush will see to it that Lott is out. No way he lets Lott get in the way of his own re-election even if a dem (Espy) takes the seat if Lott leaves the Senate all together.
The playing field is not even. Dems get away with things and Republicans do not. We know that, our political leaders know it, all America knows it. We cannot have someone susceptible to major gaffs carrying the ball and fumbling when we were about to score.
Bush's actions lead me to believe he values his country over himself. While he may not be the most conservative politician, I can respect the fact that he does what he believes is right.
I can't respect a man who says whatever he thinks will make the audience happy. That's exactly what Lott is doing. He's a pathetic, weak man. Certainly not fit to lead.
What was Thurmond's platform on Defense? Lott didn't mention the Dixiecrats. He mentioned Thurmond. What was Thurmond's stance on defense.
And we all know about what comes before big time fall from power...
Yeah, don't confuse yourself with the facts. You're plenty confused enough already.
What???
So now you're saying Affirmative Action is NOT racism?
It goes to the heart of the argument. Try reading it, assuming you're capable of doing so.
Acutally he was running on States Rights [one of which would have concerned segregation].
But Lott was not talking about the campaign, but a Thurmond Presidency! (As remote as that might have been!)
So, do you think that would have been the only thing a President Thurmond would have had to deal with? Or would have dealt with?
For example, you think a President Thurman would have done nothing about the North Korean invasion of South Korea because he would have been tooooooo busy signing executive orders dealing with segregation?
Two words: Greg Ganske
If Bush has ever said anything just to make an audience happy, would you say you can't respect him?
Lott probably thought he was accomodating Bush the Texan. And Bush probably thought (is this fool trying to mock me). We'll see who gets the last laugh.
Hank, c'mon. You're wasting JimRob's bandwidth. Have you even studied the Dixiecrats, how they came to be and what their platform was? Thurmond was the presidential nominee of the Dixiecrats, and ran on a platform of racial segregation. Simple enough. Quit denying the obvious. You can make your own decisions about Lott's motive, and that's fine, and we can reasonably disagree about the significance of that. But the words themselves are clearly linked to a segregationist campaign, and to try and claim otherwise is just inane...
No. Would you say that a person who supports AA is a racist?
Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity. It seems likely that Lott never even checked Strom's 1948 platform before gabbling about how great it was. He probably thought, "gee, Strom's ideas about government are pretty sharp; he probably always felt the way he does now; he ran for President once and lost; conclusion: it would have been great if he'd won."
So I don't think Lott was necessarily lying, just horribly misinformed. That's bad enough, but not the disaster it became. The disaster came when his moronic mouth completed the job. Instead of saying, "OK, I screwed up. I clean forgot what an old cracker he was. Sorry about that, but I'll be damned if I let you paint me as a racist," he effectively said, "Have mercy on an old, recovering racist." The moron.
That 1948 campaign also strongly supported equal powers to the three branches of government. But you only assume his comment had negative racial tones.
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