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
So Lott was lying because you can't find something? And you want to give up the Senate for THAT?
And that's a fair statement in turn. My argument is not with those who do not believe Lott's motive was racism - I do not think there is enough direct evidence regarding this statement one way or the other, and, since there is far more related evidence that he's an idiot, rather than a bigot, I'll go with the former for now. But I do not agree with the claim that his words were not racially loaded, for whatever reason he uttered them.
Sure, with an agenda. Of course there was racial significance to his comments. I'm just tired of those who "know" his intent. Many of these same folks (I'm not including you here) defended the Impeached Rapist to the hilt in the face of mounds of evidence. Here, they're the Thought Police.
Is Lott guilty of misspeaking, and then handling this entire situation like a moron? You betcha! Is he a racist, supportive of segregation? I doubt it.
That is the way the issue was framed by Jessie Jackson, the CBC, the Dems and the liberal media, its not what Lott said. Why are YOU supporting their definition?
As majority leader, I can move an agenda that would have things that would be helpful to African-Americans and minorities of all kinds and all Americans, but specifically aimed at showing African-Americans that they have particular concerns and needs that we have to advance an agenda that will help rural and ...
I don't want a Republican leader pursuing that agenda. I want a Republican leader pursuing the President's agenda of tax cuts and sound judges. Even worse, Trent Lott made it much harder for those of us with pricipled stands against minority set-asides or reverse discrimination to explain that we aren't racists.
That question should be directed at Trent Lott. He's the only one who can turn that seat over to the Dems.
And if he does that at a time when the country is at war, and the President needs the support of Congress, and the voters have shredded historical trends to give it to him, I will consider him the moral equivalent of a draft dodger.
Hank, at this point, this is all I can say about your position here:
Gawd, man, read the 1948 Dixiecrat platform and get back to me.
The best thing that can happen is that Bush calls Lott into the WH and says "Do the right thing". Bush then holds a Rose Garden deal praising Lott and Lott can lose the election with dignity. Everyone goes home happy and has cake.
And I basically agree with you. My arguement is with AppyPappy, who says Lott's words were not racial. Whatever Lott's motive was (I lean towards imbecility), his words were loaded by any historical interpretation. Because there aren't very many.
He hasn't pursued it yet.
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