Posted on 12/20/2002 12:44:09 PM PST by rightwing2
Friday, Dec. 20, 2002
Newsmax Inside Cover
Keene, Weyrich: Not So Fast on Frist
Sen. Trent Lott's resignation as majority leader doesn't surprise two leading conservatives, who oppose the rush to replace him with Sen. Bill Frist. "It was difficult to see how he could have survived after he had been attacked both by the political and ideological enemies on the one hand, and deserted by his friends on the other,” and "apparently incapable of defending himself effectively,” American Conservative Union President David Keene told NewsMax.com. "Thank goodness, they were able to get him to agree to stay in the Senate,” Keene observed. There had been "a danger” that he would have resigned his Senate seat as well, in which case the Democrat governor of Mississippi would have appointed a Democrat in his place. That would have put the Senate at 50-50, with a liberal such as Sen. Lincoln Chafee possibly switching parties and giving the Democrats control of the Senate.
Keene declined to get himself or the ACU involved in any internal fight among Republicans for a successor to Lott. But he made clear that of the names mentioned, Frist of Tennessee was probably the least acceptable to conservatives. However, he took care to add that with Frist’s "voting record overall, one should not be that uncomfortable.” At the same time the ACU president noted that "Bill Frist has never been close to, solicited the views of, or worked with people of the conservative movement.” He "may be harmed by the fact that it’s clear the White House wants him.” Senators tend to be "jealous” of their prerogatives in internal matters. The appearance of White House intervention could be offputting, Keene believes. That in fact is one reason why Keene won’t get ACU involved in any contest.
As of midday Friday, it appeared that Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania might go for the top spot. Santorum’s strengths, as Keene see is, that "he’s young, and he comes from a big state. He’s tough, but he gets along with people.” "Frist is smart. He comes from a border state, very articulate on a number of issues, particularly health care issues.” But neither Frist nor Santorum "has been around long enough to really get a grasp of the way the Senate works.” Kentucky's Sen. Mitch McConnell, the incoming Senate majority whip (No. 2 post), who as of midday Friday had indicated he would remain there and not run for No. 1, "is tough” and has the ability to lead. But that can be a weakness, says Keene, because most of those senators historically "don’t like to be led.”
Weyrich Not 'Comfortable With' Frist
Conservative leader Paul Weyrich today called Lott's situation "an unfortunate tragedy," but said the Mississippian "had just become unviable." Weyrich, president of the Free Congress Foundation, said he had hoped McConnell would make the race. When told that McConnell had taken himself out of the running, he said Santorum would be acceptable too. He said, however, that Frist "is not somebody conservatives would be comfortable with. He’s a moderate Republican who’s not really pro-life. That’s the bottom line.”
McConnell and Santorum "stand on principle,” Weyrich told NewsMax.com, and are "sound on all the key issues that we care about.” The longtime conservative icon hoped there would be a contest for the top spot among Senate Republicans.
No, they are not. But get real. Abortion is the BOTTOM LINE for liberals and Democrats, the one thing they won't compromise on; and the same thing is true for pro-life conservatives, religious conservatives, or social conservatives--who make up a substantial majority of conservative voters in this country.
So, even if you don't much care about the abortion issue, you have to respect those who do, if you want a viable conservative movement. If the Republicans kick pro-life supporters in the teeth yet again, after the amazing support they got on this issue in the last election, they will be guilty of extreme political stupidity.
The media want you to think that pro-lifers are a tiny fringe group. That simply isn't true. It's the bottom-line issue for the core conservative constituency that gets out the vote in November. If Bush wants to do well in 2004, he needs to give them some payback for their support. And Libertarians or Country Clubbers need to learn to give on this issue, because social conservatives won't compromise. You can't compromise on killing babies.
Lott was only the first course. Pass the salt.
"Well, Nancy..." one can certainly be pro-life without being conservative, but I don't see how one can call himself a conservative (i.e., one who believes in maintaining and developing within the foundational principles of America) without believing that "we are endowed by our Creator with... the right to Life."
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