Posted on 12/10/2002 8:15:00 AM PST by Sideshow Bob
Can George W. Bush and the Republican party really afford to have Trent Lott (R., Miss.) be its face in the United States Senate? The question has to be pondered as the wannabe Majority Leader tries to dig himself out of his latest mess.
As everyone knows by now, in a Thursday testimonial to the retiring Senate legend, Lott said, "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had of followed our lead we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."
"These problems?" When Thurmond ran for president in '48, it wasn't as a Republican or Democrat. It was as the candidate of the State's Rights Democratic party — founded explicitly to keep Jim Crow alive.
On Friday, Lott spokesman Ron Bonjean tried to cover for his boss with a two-sentence statement: "Senator Lott's remarks were intended to pay tribute to a remarkable man who led a remarkable life. To read anything more into these comments is wrong."
Unfortunately, those words just didn't cut it. The incoming Senate Majority Leader was speaking directly to the moment in time when Thurmond split the Democratic party over Harry Truman's embrace of a civil-rights agenda.
From the Mississippi State Democratic party's official sample ballot for the 1948 election, here's some of the "problems" that Mississippians feared: "A vote for Truman electors is a direct order to our Congressmen and Senators from Mississippi to vote for passage of Truman's so-called civil rights program in the next Congress. This means the vicious…anti-poll tax, anti-lynching and anti-segregation proposals will become the law of the land and our way of life in the South will be gone forever."
Perhaps Sen. Lott should ask Alabama-born Condoleezza Rice — whose childhood friends were killed in a church bombing — if she believes her life would have been better if Strom Thurmond had become president.
So, Monday night, faced with mounting criticism of his comments, Lott issued another apology. This time, it was, "A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embrace the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my statement." "Discarded policies" — that's a quaint, benign quaint phrase that effectively sidesteps the real horror that was Jim Crow. The new statement itself was very nice and, all things considered, one might give Lott the benefit of the doubt — if he didn't have a record, unmatched by any other current leading Republican of paying homage to a romanticized view of the "old South."
That's right. This isn't the first time Lott has been caught up in "a poor choice of words."
In a 1984 speech to the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Biloxi, Miss., Lott declared: "The spirit of Jefferson Davis lives in the 1984 Republican platform."
In 1998, it was revealed that Lott had spoken several times to the Council of Conservative Citizens, a "racialist", neo-white supremacist organization. Lott claimed that he didn't know about their philosophy, believing it to be a benign "conservative" group. In fact, he had written a regular column for the CCC's "Citizen's Informer" publication over the course of several years. It's also rare for any member of Congress to write for an outside group's publication without getting an idea of what positions the group advocates.
Furthermore, Lott's uncle popped up to say that his nephew well knew what the CCC was about. Just ten years ago, Lott praised the CCC's philosophy. A year before all this came to light, Lott hosted the CCC in Washington.
Several black Republicans (including this writer, a Republican National Committee staffer at the time) approached Lott to address the problem. He demurred. His office made it clear that the senator had said all he intended to say about the CCC.
Yet Lott plays the "image" game when he feels like it. On at least one occasion, when he was Senate Majority Whip, black staffers were abruptly summoned into his personal office — to provide "color" to photos in a media profile.
This is a problem unique to Trent Lott, not a "southern conservative" one. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and Texans Dick Armey and Tom DeLay, the architects of the 1994 GOP takeover of the House, are all southerners. They've all been attacked for various "sins" against liberal orthodoxy on Medicare, taxes, regulation, etc. But none has left a trail of offhanded racially charged comments. Lott has — and doesn't seem to care.
We're supposed to believe that this latest gaffe is "a poor choice of words" — one that just happens to pop up over and over again?
Yes, maybe African Americans need to "get over" slavery and Jim Crow. But why can't Trent Lott "get over" the civil-rights movement?
Most people don't expect a 100-year old Thurmond or an 85-year-old Robert Byrd (D., W.V.) to completely escape their racist pasts. But Trent Lott is an adult baby boomer, of the same generation as the current and previous presidents. The leaders of this generation supposedly went through the '60s and supposedly learned a few things about race. That seems true of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. But Trent Lott is waxing nostalgic about the Confederacy and Dixiecrats.
For Republicans who don't want to ponder the potential ramifications of race on the party, consider that this is a man whose cluelessness extends beyond racial matters:
This is the same Trent Lott who oversaw the continual shrinking of the Senate Republican majority between 1996 and 2000.
This is the same Trent Lott who seemed oblivious that a frustrated Jim Jeffords would bolt the party, and had the Senate over to the Democrats.
This is the same Trent Lott who ticked off social and defense conservatives in 1999: As Air Force Lt. Kelli Flinn was being court-martialed for having an affair with a married man and lying about it to a superior, Lott declared that the military had to "get real." Rather than punishment, Lott felt that "at the minimum, [Flinn] ought to get an honorable discharge."
George W. Bush and his guru-advisor Karl Rove have to ask if this is a man who should have a prominent position in the "new" Republican party. It's not as if there aren't more interesting alternatives: The ideal choice would be telegenic Bill Frist of Tennessee. As chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, he helped restore the GOP majority. (The one downside for Frist is that the surgeon may be too smart for the position. As one veteran Senate staffer put it, "The smart guys don't win these leadership races because it would be too intimidating to the other senators. You have to be just smart enough to do the job, but not so smart as to make the other members of the club feel inadequate.")
There's also Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, the incoming Senate Majority Whip. He's a forceful champion of free speech, especially in opposition to the McCain-Feingold version of "campaign-finance reform."
Even outgoing Whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma would be an improvement — and someone who pushes real tax reform. In other words, these are people who have some genuine ideas and can be good spokesmen for the party and its principles. In all cases, they'd be a significant improvement to lead the GOP.
Ultimately though Bush, Rove, and Co. have to ask: "Do they want someone who deserves to be Senate Majority Leader — or a man who seems to continually fantasize being white majority leader?"
So let's wait a couple weeks. But no more.
It doesn't matter. Lott is ineffective. We continually lost seats in the Senate, and legislative battles to Clinton, since Bob Dole left the Leader's office.
The goofball is completely lost against Tom Daschle. We need someone up there who is quick on his feet, resolute on princple, and has a pair between his legs.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Do they know something you don't?
July 15, 1996
VIA CERTIFIED MAIL RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
The Honorable Robert E. Rubin Secretary of the Treasury 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20220
: Dear Mr. Secretary:
: I am writing to inquire as to the status of the Kennametal investigation : by : the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and to inquire as to whether the : scope : of OFAC's investigation includes the role of First Lady Hillary Clinton : as : a : Director of Lafarge Corporation during the time Lafarge was involved : with : Kennametal and other parties in a conspiracy to commit numerous federal : offenses, including Trading with the Enemy, and to defraud the United : States : via an arms smuggling operation carried out through Lafarge's : Marblehead, : Ohio facilities.
: Documents obtained by Congressional investigators in 1991 clearly detail : Kennametal's violations of the August 2, 1990 Iraqi Trade Embargo, and : indicate a steady supply of the Iraqi war effort by Kennametal : throughout : 1990 and during the Gulf War in early 1991. These documents also show : that : Kennametal products originating in the United States were transhipped to : the : U.K., in violation of the Export Control Administration Act, and then : fraudently marked "made in the E.C.C." for shipment to Iraq. Further : investigation has revealed evidence detailing the path of the shipments : out : of the U.S. via the Ordnance Center located on Lafarge's premises on : Marbelhead Pennisula.
: Under 18 U.S.C. 371, Lafarge is liable as a co-conspirator for the : crimes : committed by Kennematal and others in furtherance of the conspiracy. : Since : the shipments which were in violation of the Trade Embargo and the : Trading : with the Enemy Act occurred between August 1990 and March 1991, the : First : Lady's potential liability as a Director and corporate agent of Lafarge.
: Moreover, serious conflict of interest issues are raised by the fact : that : Lafarge Corporation from 1990 to 1992, I am obviously concerned about : the : posssible correlation between OFAC's continued lack of action and the : First : Lady's potential liability as a Director and corporate agent of Lafarge.
: Moreover, serious conflict of interest issues are raised by the fact : that : Lafarge Corporate and its Board of Directors have been represented by : Buchanan Ingersoll the same law firm that was representing Kennametal in : the : Iraqgate investigations.
: Given the fact that the violations occurred in 1990 and 1991, that : documentation of the violations has been publicly admitted that the : violations occurred, it appears that OFAC has had more than enough time : and : evidence to initiated a criminal prosecution. Please inform me at your : earliest convenience as to the status of OFAC's Kennametal investigation : and : whether the First Lady and Lafarge Corporation are or have been subjects : of : that investigation.
: Very truly yours,
: Marianne F. Gasior
'Skepticism and Fear' About Iraq's Nuclear Confession
Maybe it's time to put Lott's mistake in perspective. It's not like he served on a board of a corporation trading with the enemy, providing materials for weapons of mass destruction to Iraq.
And take the hair peice whith ya
No, they don't. It's just difficult politically to dump the one you went to the dance with (after having won the Senate back). And they don't blame him for losing Jeffords (although they should,IMO)
But this looks to me like the straw that breaks the camel's back. Let's hope so.
HEY! HO! Lott's gotta go!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.