Bill Schneider: White House handling of Lott 'clumsy'

cnn ^

[rs79bm]

SCHNEIDER: This is very much White House activity and there's a lot of resentment in the Senate about how the White House handled this. It was very clumsy.

The White House let it be known to reporters that they didn't want Trent Lott to remain as Senate majority leader. But they didn't want their fingerprints on this.

[rs79bm]

Note to Bill Schnieder: We don't care what you think, and you're the clumsy one.

[Bluntpoint]

He looks like a muppet.

[Mr. Bird]

None of this would have happened if the president hadn't spoken up about a week ago in criticism of Trent Lott.

Right. The media would have let Bush remain silent on the biggest topic in D.C. If anything, I'd say the White House "handling" of this issue was masterful. They get what they want, and the public really doesn't see it as meddling at all.

[sinkspur]

They get what they want, and the public really doesn't see it as meddling at all.

It doesn't matter what the public thinks; it matters what the Senate thinks.

And they're not very happy with Bush and Rove right now.

And, I think they realize if they ever get out on a limb, Bush will saw it off.

[sam_paine]

To Schneider: "shutthehellup"

Yer just upset that this is moving from Republican Slaughter to Rank-closing counterattack.

[G.Mason]

CNN Senior Analyst Bill Schneider is as dumb as he looks!

Seinor anal ist indeed!

[G.Mason]

CNN Senior Analyst Bill Schneider is as dumb as he looks!

Senior anal ist indeed!

[paul51]

It appears to me that the white knew exactly what it wanted, got what it wanted and the senate also knew what the white house wanted. The only one out of the loop and looking stupid is schnieder. Moron

[ClearCase_guy]

And would CNN feel more kindly to President Bush, if he had said. "I want to defend my good friend Trent Lott. Not only do I wish to defend him, I want to say that I agree with everything he said about Strom Thurmond."

I'm sure CNN would have preferred that statement to any sort of backstage effort to remove Lott from his powerful position!

[sam_paine]

And, I think they realize if they ever get out on a limb, Bush will saw it off.

Good! The PRESIDENT is the LEADER of the AGENDA---NOT THE SENATE MAJORITY LEADER!

Daschle thought he was President, and if the Lame Duck Session was any indication, Lott thought he had assumed Daschle's presupposed place. They don't have to rubber-stamp the president, but it's HIS agenda they need to check-and-balance....not their own.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Bill Schnieder is a maroon.

[cynicom]

The democrats loaned Bush a saw to remove the limb Lott was on and it will cost him much for the rental. The blind here have eyes but do not see.

[Wright is right!]

"It doesn't matter what the public thinks; it matters what the Senate thinks. And they're not very happy with Bush and Rove right now."

Au contraire. While there MIGHT be a bit of public grumbling hither and thither, the GOP Majority is tickled to DEATH about this - because the WH has silently engineered the removal of an ineffective Majority Leader that they, the GOP senators, didn't have the political guts to do themselves.

Bush has just made the GOP Majority's job a LOTT easier. Behind the scenes, they are JUBILANT. Not only that, but if it's Frist who becomes ML, that will defuse any possible defections a la Chafee. No way could Chafee describe Frist as too extreme for the party.

Schneider will NEVER report THAT.

Michael

[goodnesswins]

Hmmm....sounds like CNN (and Schneider) is unhappy with the current state of affairs - they would have liked to have good ole Trent to kick around for the next 2 years.....they're just pissed because they got snookered AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!! M E R R Y .... C H R I S T M A S everyone!

[sinkspur]

They don't have to rubber-stamp the president, but it's HIS agenda they need to check-and-balance....not their own.

And they will check-and-balance it, even more closely now.

Bush expects loyalty, but he will not, apparently, return the favor.

[sinkspur]

because the WH has silently engineered the removal of an ineffective Majority Leader that they, the GOP senators, didn't have the political guts to do themselves.

I respectfully disagree and suggest you've misread the GOP Senators.

[jraven]

I'm a bit surprised at Schneider's comments for this reason:
it was a classic political operation. Clearly, the President wanted Lott to go. But he did not want to be overtly seen as pushing him out because it would give his critics in and out of the party ammunition. The White House simply made it clear behind the scenes that they didn't really like the guy and let him hang in the wind so he was ostensibly not FORCED out by the WH but pressured out by other Senators or under such pressure that he threw in the towel. I disagree that the WH lost much in this. They achieved their goal. If this is indeed a business-style White House this is not unusual for a corporation: companies often make it so miserable for someone that they must resign, rather than be fired. That's what happened here. They WANTED him to go but did not want to be SEEN as forcing him to go...but put the wheels in motion so others got him to go. And in the end Lott stays in the Senate, critics on the left don't get demon to raise money and use in sound bites...and the president's agenda will likely go through ALMOST intact (I think they will backtrack on some things to illustrate their being sensitive to minority feelings on some key issues).

[geedee]

Ain't it great having Ted "Nothing's news less'n I say it's news" Turner's CNN look into their crystal ball and tell us what GW and his Administration is thinking? Since CNN rates one rung BELOW the sh*tbug on Darwin's Evolutionary Ladder, I think I'll make my own mind up.

[smith288]

Bush expects loyalty, but he will not, apparently, return the favor.

So supporting Affirmative Action is loyal to Bush?

[geedee]

Yer just upset that this is moving from Republican Slaughter to Rank-closing counterattack.

EXACTLY RIGHT!! I thought that as soon as James "God I'm ugly" Carville accepted Lott's apologies. Trust me, Carville knows all the Dim-Dem tricks and he never would've said that unless this fiasco was turning against them. They don't care that they ruin people's lives . . . all they know is attack, attack, and attack and make as many folks as possible dependent on us from cradle to grave.

But they screwed the pooch this time. They've energized the conservative base and the libber's are scrambling for cover.