Commentary: Lott Throws In The Towel (Conservative base will be gone)

crosswalk ^ | 12/20/2002 | Gary Bauer

[TLBSHOW]

Commentary: Lott Throws In The Towel Gary Bauer President, American Values

After days of endless apologizing, Trent Lott has thrown in the towel and resigned as Senate Majority Leader. Late last night he began making phone calls to GOP colleagues to let them know his decision.

Also over night the White House began a more concerted push to replace Lott with Senator Bill Frist, who will now emerge as the "frontrunner."

Frist is a savvy media personality, but he angered many conservatives by interfering in Republican primaries around the country, virtually always in favor of the moderate candidate over the conservative. And he was a staunch supporter of former Surgeon General Satcher, who was pro-abortion. I hope a more reliable conservative-- either Nickles or Santorum-- will throw their hat in the ring.

Now comes the hard part. This mess doesn't end with Lott's resignation. The GOP needs to find its backbone. One example: There are reports that the Administration is now afraid to go into court against the University of Michigan's offensive racial quota system that selects students from certain minority groups regardless of grades while rejecting white students with much higher grades.

For 30 years the Republicans have opposed these quasi-quota schemes. Are we now going to throw in the towel because of the smear campaign against Republicans of the last two weeks?

Some insiders are suggesting there will be reluctance at the White House to nominate conservative judges. Such reports better be inaccurate or the conservative base of the party will be gone.

Let me bring up again one easy way for the White House to signal that it knows how to play hardball and help Americans of all races. Many Washington D.C. schools are abysmal and the children, mostly black, trapped in them are ill served. The White House should send a school voucher program to Capitol Hill on the first day of the new Congress just for the District of Columbia. Ted Kennedy will scream. Hillary Clinton will pull her hair out. Daschle will reach for the Maalox. And they will line up and vote "no" against those black families and in favor of the teacher unions.

Last year Bush dropped his voucher plan because Kennedy refused to let it out of Committee, but there should be no cave in this time.

[Torie]

You must have missed my musings about quotas and law schools. But you probably would not like it much.

[Wait4Truth]

There is another lie that TLBSHOW is spreading around. Frist is not against a ban on PBA. He is FOR it. All you have to do is check his voting record. TLBSHOW has been lying about Frist all day. Freepers need to ignore this crap.

[jwalsh07]

Point me to it. I'll keep an open mind. Never too old to learn.

[2nd Amendment]

I know their is a lot of truth to that. But we have to take what we can. I do wish we had more of an ideologue like Nickles(spelling?)but this is the closest we can do in present circumstances. Can you imagine how the country would be different today if Gore had gotten a thousand more votes?

[Reagan Man]

Bauer's right about one thing, the "GOP needs to find its backbone". Just today, just since Lott has stepped down, the liberal establishment has gone into overdrive labeling the GOP a bunch of racists. Republicans better wake up and face the enemy head on.

[jwalsh07]

Do you ever think they will find THE GUY? THE GUY who thinks exactly as every right-winger does?

Torie?

:-}

[Texas_Jarhead]

Bill Frist ain't as conservative as Lott was so that is all that matters to me (and I didn't think too much of Lott in the first place).

[McGavin999]

Isn't this the same Gary Bauer who stood by while McCain bashed Christian conservatives?

[RJCogburn]

Bauer is even more lame than usual.

he was a staunch supporter of former Surgeon General Satcher, who was pro-abortion

Which does not mean "he was a staunch supporter of former Surgeon General Satcher, because he was pro-abortion"

There are reports that...

Some insiders are suggesting....

Bauer says nothing. I wonder why anybody listens to him.

We here in NH certainly ignored him the more we saw of him when he ran (limped?) in the Republican presidential primary.

[Revolting cat!]

Personally, I'd vote for Senator Benito (Mussolini, who else?) if he were available. Alas, neither is he available nor am I being axed to vote!

[okie01]

"TLBSHOW has been lying about Frist all day."

I'm beginning to suspect that TLBSHOW is not pro-Lott, nor anti-Frist, so much as anti-Bush or, especially, anti-Rove.

The basis for the argument is simply unclear to me.

[Mo1]

Frist is a savvy media personality, but he angered many conservatives by interfering in Republican primaries around the country, virtually always in favor of the moderate candidate over the conservative

Maybe .. but the bottom line is .. we got the majority back .. didn't we

[The Wizard]

And Larry King is drunk on his show tonight

[Man of the Right]

I agree with everything you say (I think DC vouchers would be a great idea), but I like Bill Frist.

[Mo1]

"GOP needs to find its backbone". Just today, just since Lott has stepped down, the liberal establishment has gone into overdrive labeling the GOP a bunch of racists

True we need to take a stand ..

Looks like the Republican's are starting to clean our house up ..

Now we should ask the Democrats when are they going to do the same???

[rwfromkansas]

If that rumor is true, I will be EXTREMELY furious myself. I write columns for the campus newspaper and if he pulls that crap, believe me, I will attack him with everything I have because that would be horrible and a complete repudiation of everything I stand for. But, I honestly have a hard time believing he will defend the quotas. It is hard to imagine. I just hope he doesn't......

[TLBSHOW]

Bashing Christians must run in the republican party.


President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have both recently sharply criticized those warning of the grave threat posed by Islamism.

They characterized such warnings as "hate" speech.

Such a reaction from our national leaders requires abject ignorance of the world around us.

The truth? Islamism is the No. 1 threat to Western civilization today. It is the No. 1 threat to Christians around the world. It is the No. 1 threat to Jews. It is the No. 1 threat to American security.

Worse yet, Bush and Powell continue policies that actually spread the poisonous hate of Islamism – hatred that manifests itself in the deaths of innocent people around the world on a daily basis.

Failing to recognize we are engulfed in a Global Jihad – an unholy war in which only one side is on the offensive – Bush and Powell pretend that the terrorism we defend against is somehow disconnected from any religious component. It is not.

Islamism, the radical brand of Quranic fundamentalism, is on the march. Its goal is nothing short of world hegemony. Its goal is nothing short of the destruction of the United States of America. Its goal is nothing short of the end of the Jewish state. Its goal is nothing short of the elimination of Christians and Jews around the world. Its goal is nothing short of global domination.

We see the violent outbursts today in Nigeria. We see them in Indonesia. We see them in the Philippines. We see them in the Middle East. We see them in Chechnya. We see them in the Balkans. And we in the United States saw them most clearly on Sept. 11, 2001.

How can we continue to keep our heads in the sand?

Rather than criticize those who do see the truth clearly, Bush and Powell ought to remember who their friends are. They ought to remember they are responsible even today for supporting those with blood on their hands. They ought to remember those schools in the Palestinian Authority teaching real hate, real violence, real jihad – all with taxpayer subsidies from the United States of America. They ought to remember "our friends" in Saudi Arabia who fund terrorism around the globe and who sent so many of those hijackers to the U.S. last year.

Perhaps Bush and Powell believe, like President Clinton and Madeleine Albright before them, that if only we in the United States are "nice" to those who hate us, the favor will be returned. Perhaps they think appeasement is the best policy. Perhaps they think this deep-seated violent hatred against us will dissipate if only we pretend it doesn't really exist. Perhaps they think we can win respect from our enemy if we are kinder and gentler.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/802213/posts

[Torie]

Well here is a copy and paste from elsewhere. It is not fully elaborated, but gives you a sense of where I am going with this:

"What is special about law schools is that they produce lawyers, the secular priesthood. If an ethnic minority has relatively few of its own in the priesthood, that means they have systematically less than others arguably to effectively advocate their interests in the public square, and in the the high priest realm of the robed ones. That systematically reduces their ability to effectively contribute to the pluralistic mechanism advanced by Madison. On a personal note, every committee that I have been on that had lawyers and non-lawyers, has been totally dominated by the former. We simply are very good at dominating.

"Thus, I think law schools are qualitatively different from other modalities of higher educacation, or fields of endeavor (except perhaps police). Granted that is from a policy standpoint rather than a constitutional standpoint. To get past the constitution, since we are dealing with suspect classes, one must show a compelling state interest. Is this a compelling state interest? Possibly.

"Another thought. Suppose when California is majority Hispanic, there are still relatively few Hispanics in the U of C system. Suppose that means that public support for the system thus erodes, and the system is shut down, or truncated, when Hispanics start voting their numbers. Is offering up quotas in this instance a compelling state interest in order to keep the doors open, and avoid a degradation of the value added of human capital in the state. Stay tuned."