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."
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.
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.
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!!
This could only have worked if Lott had remained leader.
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