Posted on 12/23/2002 6:57:59 AM PST by TLBSHOW
Republicans look to new Senate leader to help repair Lott damage
WASHINGTON - Republican senators are gathering by telephone to elect a new leader they hope will help repair the damage that Trent Lott's racially charged remarks have had on the party's efforts to court minority voters.
Sen. Bill Frist (news, bio, voting record) of Tennessee, a White House favorite, emerged last week as the clear choice to replace Lott, who resigned from the leadership under pressure Friday.
Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record) of Nebraska said Frist would be elected — "I suspect unanimously" — by the 51 Republican senators in a conference call Monday afternoon. Frist would become majority leader when Republicans take control in the new Congress that convenes Jan. 7.
Lott's praise on Dec. 5 of Strom Thurmond's 1948 pro-segregation presidential campaign had put the Republicans on the defensive.
In his first public remarks since resigning, Lott told The Associated Press on Sunday that he had fallen into a trap set by his political enemies and had "only myself to blame."
"There are some people in Washington who have been trying to nail me for a long time," Lott said in an interview outside his home in Pascagoula, Mississippi. "When you're from Mississippi and you're a conservative and you're a Christian, there are a lot of people that don't like that. I fell into their trap and so I have only myself to blame."
Republicans are looking to Frist, a wealthy heart surgeon with relatively little national exposure, to represent a fresh face of the party, particularly in efforts to attract minorities.
"He personifies not just the rhetoric about idealism but as a life that has been lived," Sen. Dick Lugar of Indiana said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition." "There are actually hands-on examples of how he will make a difference. And I think it's a very exciting prospect."
Frist, 50, is considered an authority on health issues in the Senate. He still keeps his starched white lab coat in the trunk of his car, makes monthly visits to hospitals and clinics and goes on occasional overseas medical missions. When the anthrax scare surfaced on Capitol Hill last year, he worked to calm his colleagues.
Frist will "be a different face than what we've had," Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record) of Utah told ABC's "This Week." "I'm not criticizing what we've had, but I think Bill has a kind of a more moderate record and a more moderate approach toward things, and I think that it's going to be very difficult to criticize him."
Hatch, the incoming Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) chairman, praised President George W. Bush (news - web sites) — as the party's top leader — for reaching out to all people and dismissed the attitude "that only Democrats care about minorities."
"I think every Republican is working hard to try and be good to minorities and do what's right. We can't support some of the far-left, you know, extreme approaches toward race, but we certainly do believe in equality," Hatch added.
Republicans played down the damage of Lott's words. "In the long sweep of American history, this is going to be a blip," Sen. Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) of Kentucky said on "Fox News Sunday."
Lott will remain in the Senate, but not in a leadership role. Republican sources said it appeared that Lott, a senator since 1989, had waited too long to end the controversy and lost any leverage he might have had to cut a deal to become a committee chairman.
"There is no apparent position of influence to which we can elect him," McConnell said. "He will, in my view, have enormous influence as someone who knows a lot about how the Senate works."
Contact your Senator today and let them know that Frist is not who we want as Senate Majority Leader!
Amen.
Clinton had Republicans ashamed to be affiliated with conservatives, and joining him in denouncing the inflexibility of the principled. Both are now scorned and ridiculed by both parties.
Despite this continued scorn by them, it breaks my heart every time I see my former party bend over and grab their cowardly ankles; as they have done with Lott.
Lott, having lived by, and led this more "compassionate" and flexible Republican party; is a fitting road kill of the very machine he set adrift. Rejecting their backbone was stupidity incarnate; a mistake best denied as appearance is now more important than leadership.
The pro-lifers, the Libertarians, the Perotistas,..... when will the Republicans get to be responsible for what happens to them in elections? It just doesn't seem fair.
The Republicans can help by passing the PBA ban. Pro-lifers will be happy.
Libertarians are, by definition, unappeaseable. They're NEVER satisfied, with ANYBODY, even some of their own candidates.
The Libertarians aren't a political movement; they're a herd of very unhappy people.
You just can't turn loose of that bone, can you? (Can't make a decent argument-attack the motive. Check.)
Far be it for you to admit that there are many Republicans who simply consider back-handed kudos to segregationism to be repugnant, no matter who is guilty of it.
Everytime I hear another embarrasment revealed about Clinton while in office, I am struck by the ironic feeling of laughing at lib.s while whincing at the injury to the country.
Lott, and to a large extent the GOP as well, deserve what they have brought on themselves. Being justified does not make something enjoyable to watch, or disappoint any less.
It's Christmas and it would be so nice if you gave us a rest for at least a day or two.
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