Posted on 11/07/2002 6:25:30 AM PST by Illbay
The focus for FReepers in the election cycle just concluded was to take back the Senate. 77% of FReeperdom opined that this was "critical."
This has now occurred, and congratulations are in order.
Now, we have to reset the agenda. Of course, there are many agenda items already set, such as homeland security, confirmation of judges, making tax cuts permanent, passing a budget, etc. And before we know it, the 2004 election cycle will be upon us.
But before ANY of that can take place, I submit there is one item that is MOST important, before all of those.
The Senate is ours, but only just. One less Senator, and we'd be back to "parity," with Mr. Cheney representing the tie breaking vote--and we all remember where that led.
The new majority leader is likely to be the OLD majority leader, Trent Lott of Mississippi. It should come as a surprise to few here on FR that Sen. Lott has a very, very small coterie of admirers here. In short, we consider him basically spineless, and far too accomodating to the Democrats, not to mention "moderates" and RINOS such as McCain, Snow, Chaffee and others.
When the Senate proceeds with its business next year, the Dems will have had months to recover from their defeat. If the past is any indication, they will come back swinging, under the assumption that "stupid people" elected Republicans, and any "mandate" from "stupid people" can be ignored. This is precisely what happened after 1994--when the shift that gave the entire Congress to the Republicans was far more dramatic than this year--and by the next year (with Boy Clinton's help) they had painted the Pubbies into a corner. I don't believe the Republicans have EVER really taken the initiative as a result.
It's time to help our Republican Senators, in particular, to see that you cannot accomodate Democrats. They don't accomodate; they see any attempt to "reach out" to them as weakness, and they take full advantage.
After the 2000 election, even though the Dems were still in the minority, they took advantage immediately to demand "power sharing." Mr. Lott, of course, was quick to accomodate them, and the result was that a few months later they were calling Tom Daschle "Majority Leader."
This time, it can't happen. Democrats have to be kept on the defensive, and off balance. Things are far too critical now. Beside the war on terrorism, we have judges to confirm, and much critical legislation to pass. We have no time for Democrat shenanigans.
But we KNOW those shenanigans are going to occur. Believe me, it's NOT going to take long for the Dems to rally. They are infallibly convinced of their own superiority. They are willing to stop at nothing to get their way.
I propose that we begin discussions on how we can help Mr. Lott, for one, grow a spine. He and the Republican Senate leadership need help from loyal conservatives to see the evil that they face (you'd think they could see it for themselves, but they continue to surprise me).
This, to me, is JOB NO. 1 for Free Republic at this time. I'd like to solicit ideas on how to accomplish this. FR has proven to be a great voice for responsible government. This task is tailor-made for us.
FReegards to all.
In a perfect world, I thoroughly agree that Lott should be replaced. But I've followed the stories concerning those who might replace him. His challengers have backed off. So if we are to affect the behavior of the Senate, will will have to deal with Lott.
The rule from medieval history is, "If you strike at a king, you must kill him." If no Republican in the Senate is willing to go for Lott's once and future position as Majority Leader, then we are chosing exactly the wrong tactics if we attack Lott, rather than try to "persuade" him to do certain things. If Lott IS going to keep the position, we are couter-productive and take ourselves out of the loop, if our approach is to attack him.
However, I agree with the point that we should FReep Lott at home as well as in Washington. That can come first. Do we have enough troops in the right places in Mississippi to do that?
Billybob
BB
If you are,...I just haven't seen anything to the contrary. I wanna be optimistic, but when a hack like Ron Kirk can garner a million+ votes....geeze.
Just giving Illbay a little bit of what he's been dishing out lately.
Lott IS going to be the Majority Leader. What are WE going to do to push him into the correct positions and actions?
I think there's a really long string now that's attached from 1600 Pennsylania Ave to Lott. He is Majority Leader again solely because of Bush. There was a good analysis on the radio yesterday. Dems (and some Pubbies) were not afraid of Bush before this election, because he barely became president. They are scared of him now, because he has shown he can help you or hurt you. Bush is in the driver's seat now, and I think both the Dems and the GOP Senate members are willing to let him drive the process and take either the credit or the blame for the next two years.
So what should we do about Lott? I think we don't do much of anything for now, other than to send e-mails to his office encouraging him NOT to cave to the Dems - if this was reversed, Daschle would be cutting Lott off at the knees. I think a Freep would be counterproductive, and against Reagan's 11th Commandment.
As an aside, what does it tell you about the current makeup of the Senate that no one in the GOP is willing to challege Lott? Lott may be spineless, but he's probably partially that way because so many of his GOP cohorts are more weak-kneed than he is.
Who in the Senate is both strong enough and has enough seniority to replace Lott? Part of the problem is the dearth of strong GOP figures in the Senate - with the exception of a few, such as Santorum, it's just a blob of gray. And Santorum is only on his second term, a bit youngish for a leadership position.
Depending on how you want to play this we could do one of two things: we can either quietly (stay out of the media) write e-mail fax call GOP senators to toss Lott. OR we could go out and make noise to the GOP Senators, public local freeps, press releases etc. The down side of making a public fuss would be that the media would have a field day with the "GOP Eating our own" spin, using the opportunity to go after GOP senators etc.
I agree entirely that the media would have a field day with that one (for once, a FR protest would get a ton of coverage instead of being buried) - and it would pi** the GOP leadership off. If your goal is to try and make the new GOP majority more effective, I don't think a public protest is the way to go. If you want to try and prod the GOP to adapt more conservative viewpoints, a public protest may get your point across, but it would in turn close some doors to FR.
This is a good point too. As much as I dislike our Toupeed Majority leader, the replacement could be worse.
Lets see if anyone has any suggestions about who would be a good replacement?
If he does, he must be a glutton for punishment. Frankly, the Trent Lott I know doesn't listen to anybody except Tom Daschle.
________________________________________________________ Naugh Dallas, just trying to be positive.
Kirk = Token + All American Football Team and associates, etc.
But let me ask you this, how can we get Lott to commit himself to an agenda since he has been smart enough to avoid doing this thus far?
You might consider reading Isaiah 29:21, btw. It might help you in dealing with others more smoothly.
I don't know if he is still, but Doctor Raoul used to be a heavy hand in the D.C. chapter. I'd like to see what he has to say in this regard.
I want to address each of your points later, btw, when I have time.
Thanks!!!
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