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Republicans look to new Senate leader to help repair Lott damage (WE MUST BE GOOD TO MINORITIES)
Associated Press ^ | 12/23/2002 | LEIGH STROPE

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."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2dumb2live; anncoulterspoodle; beatingadeadhorse; buchanansbitch; christian; lott; lottlicker; lottwasstupid; patheticloseralert; republicans; savethedrama4urmama; senate; smear; stopbitching; stopcrying; stopwhining; tlbgetoverit; tlblikefries; tlbrattyratweeper; toddneedsalife
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To: TLBSHOW
You have a tough time answering things that were posted to you, don't you?
81 posted on 12/23/2002 9:48:04 AM PST by Bella_Bru
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To: nanny
I do treat people with the same respect without regard to the color of their skin. I don't think you can handle that I am not a racist.
82 posted on 12/23/2002 9:54:52 AM PST by Hillary's Lovely Legs
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To: Bella_Bru

Merry Christmas and Ban PB Abortion for the new year!
83 posted on 12/23/2002 9:57:00 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: Hillary's Lovely Legs
I do treat people with the same respect without regard to the color of their skin. I don't think you can handle that I am not a racist.

I am sorry, I don't know what you actually feel - I didn't intend to call you a racist - you cannot say in one sentence that 'you are going into the minority community to bring people into the party' and in the next sentences say 'I don't judge people by the color of their skin'. You just did!!

The 'feel-good' type pandering is destructive to this country. It gives credence to the notion Republicans are a racist organization. You cannot target, pigeon hole, lump a group of people and then say you 'don't judge them by the color of their skin' - Because that is exactly what you are doing, and the manufactured racism will never die as long as the Republicans feed the beast.

84 posted on 12/23/2002 10:05:47 AM PST by nanny
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To: nanny
The Senate should do the right thing and send a message to the Racist democrats and Elect Trent Lott ML.....
85 posted on 12/23/2002 10:13:31 AM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: nanny
Get over yourself. Face it, you don't want anyone but WASPS in the party. I guess I should go with you to the country club and see if I can expand our base in the cocktail lounge.

For the president to even acknowledge that there are people of different races and ethnicities who live in this country is racist to you.

You talk in circles because you have no arguement. Acknowledging differences does not make one a racist. You try to make yourself feel superior because there are actually people in this world who are color blind. It's not a ' feel good' pandering. It's bringing people into the party who have the same values and ideas. It's being a missionary. I refuse to let people, regardless of race, live a life of ignorance in the democratic party. I also have no tolerance of people throwing around the word 'racist' when actually the one screaming the loudest is nothing but a Jesse Jackson in nanny clothing.

86 posted on 12/23/2002 10:50:33 AM PST by Hillary's Lovely Legs
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To: TLBSHOW
Why not just add BAH HUMBUG to your tag!
87 posted on 12/23/2002 11:10:17 AM PST by OldFriend
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To: Hillary's Lovely Legs
You talk in circles because you have no arguement. Acknowledging differences does not make one a racist. You try to make yourself feel superior because there are actually people in this world who are color blind. It's not a ' feel good' pandering. It's bringing people into the party who have the same values and ideas. It's being a missionary.

Yes, the action is racist - I don't know what you are. A missionary -

I refuse to let people, regardless of race, live a life of ignorance in the democratic party.

IGNORANCE - I also have no tolerance of people throwing around the word 'racist' when actually the one screaming the loudest is nothing but a Jesse Jackson in nanny clothing.

No, I was only trying to point out as long as people are not color-blind - and pander and that is exactly what is happening, it is a racist behavior. And you called them ignorant -

You see, I believe black people, any minority, wants the same things anyone else does. They want our country free and safe. They want to be able to work and provide for their families. They want government off their backs and out of their lives. They want the education for their children for which they are paying. Until we realize we have the same goals and quit pandering and pretending they have a different agenda - we will keep the beast alive - but as we have seen in the Lott agenda - the Republicans are not above playing the race card either. It is despicable whoever is doing it and for whatever noble reason.

I repeat if the President would get to work and take on the issues in this country that needs fixing and stop playing a political game - people of all colors will flock to the Republican party.

88 posted on 12/23/2002 11:25:12 AM PST by nanny
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To: TLBSHOW
**Patrick J. Buchanan: 'Bush rose to declare in piety and self-righteousness'**

Well, thanks Pat! How nice of you to come riding by. Now, if you'd just climb down off your high-horse, maybe more folks could hear you.

**George W. Bush: "Recent comments by Sen. Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized and rightly so. Every day that America was segregated was a day that America was unfaithful to our ideals."**

President Bush makes me proud to be an American. Does anyone think that this all would have just faded into the woodwork if the President had held his silence? Senator Lott should have realized that when you cut enough wind, you eventually poop on yourself. When he failed to quickly and effectively change his drawers, the Dems proceeded to smear the mess all around the house. It then became time to call in an industrial-strength cleanup crew.

Senator Lott, to his credit, has decided not to quit his team. He is willing to move on. Come January 7th, it's still our ball - time to go on offense and put points on the scoreboard. And we fans can do more than cheer or jeer. We can turn our fire to the real enemy. They have a rap sheet of poop longer than a mile of tp.

Let's not let them or the media forget it. IMHO, this Kay Soze thread (Racism within the Democratic Party) is a good beginning - sorry if it's already been posted - I've been cleaning house;-)

Hope the link works. HTML skills sadly lacking. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/810961/posts
89 posted on 12/23/2002 12:29:20 PM PST by auboy
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To: OldFriend
The fat lady sang it was the wrong song but she sang.

Merry Christmas my friend!
90 posted on 12/23/2002 12:33:18 PM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: auboy
but Pat is correct on this issue.
91 posted on 12/23/2002 12:34:15 PM PST by TLBSHOW
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To: TLBSHOW
**Merry Christmas and Ban PB Abortion for the new year!**

Amen, TLB!
92 posted on 12/23/2002 12:41:18 PM PST by auboy
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To: Puppage
lord have mercy....minority .... sminority....anyone can work where they want to and live where they want to...I have worked with both blacks and whites for many years and have been friends with both blacks and whites for many years..I was fortunate enough to have a dad that always said if you like someone it is because you just plain like him and if you don't like him, it is because you just plain don't like him.

analogy:...take a guy named "smith"...he borrows some money and doesn't pay it back. The guy/bank or whatever will tell everyone "stay away from the smith bunch, they ain't no good". No matter how many good smiths there are...the whole bunch is tainted.

this is what my father was trying to teach us and it is still true today. Just because you get scalped by one indian, doesn't mean all indians are bad.....etc....etc

the key to success is: to get on your feet, you must first get off your ass!!!! no matter what your color or address or family name is. p.s. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years ....may you each get all you want and want all you get!!

93 posted on 12/23/2002 12:52:10 PM PST by cajun-jack
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To: TLBSHOW
**but Pat is correct on this issue. **

I quit listening to him long ago. He comes across to me as a bitter, haughty man. Sorry.

I do hope and pray that a ban on partial birth abortion can be passed. We now have a President who will sign it if the bill can get to his desk.

Wise Men Still Seek HIM. Merry Christmas!
94 posted on 12/23/2002 12:57:32 PM PST by auboy
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To: TLBSHOW
everyone is fooled the rats want every republican smeared as a racist

This could only have worked if Lott had remained leader.

95 posted on 12/23/2002 10:09:40 PM PST by M. Thatcher
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