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
Yep. He should have come out blasting. Instead, he basically confessed to the accusation.
"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?
It's lame because the history of the Dixiecrats is quite clear - their entire reason to exist was perpetuating government-forced segregation and fighting federal efforts to end such. States rights was their cry, their justification, and they forever soiled it with their actions.
You have apparently decided you know what Trent Lott meant. Good for you. I think that's kinda foolish. For him to be that racist, to call for a 1948 agenda to bring back segregation, there's no way he could have survived all these years in public service.
Please show me where I have said that Trent Lott is a bigot. I'm more inclined to believe he's a stone-cold idiot. But to claim that there is no racial meaning or significance to his words is, quite frankly, asinine. He may or may not have meant what he said. But what he said is quite clear to those who care to follow through on the connections.
That was deliberate, as the rest of your post had no bearing on the debate. The issue is not what Strom might have done - because no one knows that. The issue is what Strom was running on in 1948 - which was segregation.
LOTT – REPUBLICAN PARIAH
Yesterday I was telling my listeners that I truly hoped that we could finish with all audible conversation concerning Trent Lott and move on to other things by Wednesday. Sorry … doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. This story won’t go away.
In the reading assignments below you will see a link to a column by Jack Kelly. Kelly says that nothing better illustrates Trent Lott's unfitness for the post of Senate Majority Leader than his desperate efforts to cling to it
The entire Republican Agenda is threatened by Lott’s self-centered attempts at political survival. Does Lott care? Apparently not. Did you know that some sources within the Bush administration are reporting that Lott told Bush aides that if he loses his leadership position he’s going to simply resign the Senate? Well how’s that for a loyal Republican. He would kill the Republican majority just to get even with George Bush for Bush’s failure to come to his rescue. It’s all about his power, his privileges, his perks, isn’t it? Smaller government, lower taxes, a few Justices on the Supreme Court who actually believe in our Constitution? To hell with that! It’s Trent Lott’s leadership perks that count.
US News & World Report is reporting that sources inside the Beltway are predicting that Lott will resign his leadership by the weekend. Hey … let him wait until after Christmas, then he can resign as Majority Leader.
The bit question is whether or not Lott will make good on his threat just to take his ball and go home. If he’s going to resign his Senate seat hopefully he will have the decency to do so before January 1st. That’s the magic date. If he quits this year a special election to fill his seat will have to be held within 90 days. If he waits until after New Years that election will be held next November. This would mean a 50-50 split in the Senate for virtually the entire legislative year. Will this be Trent Lotts legacy? A childish temper tantrum following a completely justified spanking?
I checked back through my list and it hasn't happened. I was only given a reference to a party platform. I can understand your desire to avoid the question because it causes you to think outside of the way you have been told. You have been told what to think and that is easier than determining the truth yourself. Facts can sometimes be troublesome to those who prefer blind allegiance to the media. But thinking independently is important to those who want the truth.
Instead of accepting the thought package that has been made for you, think outside that box. Here's what Lott said "I supported Thurmond because of his defense stance". Instead of automatically believing what the media has told you, find out if Thurmond HAD a defense stance. Instead of assuming, try looking at the bare facts.
Are you willing to give up the Senate to the Democrats over this?
Despite our differences on this issue, I think we can both agree that Lott somehow managed to toss off large numbers of his potential supporters with every move he made regarding this affair. It has been one of the most stunning displays of political ineptness I have ever seen.
Lott had made lots of these jokes over the last years to Thurmond. The Dems just jumped on this one for political expediency.
The President should have learned this lesson when they jumped on his DUI and defended Lott instead of cracking on him so hard.
I think this was a mistake on Bush's part.
That's certainly fair. I do see your point about his lying--I think "triangulation" was the Clintonian euphemism--at the press conference, although I still believe segregation was far from his thoughts when he first shot his mouth off. But in any case, he's since copped a plea to the charge of racism, effectively, so there's nothing left to defend. This argument about what he meant and why is strictly of academic interest, at this point.
Post the entire platform and we'll decide for ourselves.
The platform is produced, so then you say this:
What was Thurmond's platform on Defense? Lott didn't mention the Dixiecrats. He mentioned Thurmond. What was Thurmond's stance on defense.
Moving the goal post back is no way to win an argument, son. The point is... Thurmond didn't have a platform on defense in 1948, at least that I can locate.
The point is, Lott was lying.
The point is, you are making a gigantic fool of yourself.
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