LOTT THREATENS TO QUIT THE SENATE IF FORCED FROM LEADERSHIP

Newsnight with Aaron Brown | 12/13/2002 | Jonathan Karl

[sinkspur]

Trent Lott, in a conference call with 27 GOP Senate Republicans today, said that he would leave the Senate if forced from the Leader position.

Jonathan Karl said three or four of the Senators viewed this as "blackmail," but that the majority still support Lott and want him to continue as Leader.

[holdonnow]

This does it for me ... good night to all.

[per loin]

Lott hasn't grown. He's an unreconstructed bigot. Now he's also holding my party hostage.

Why did your party elect an unreconstructed bigot to lead them?

[Torie]

I have never, ever, branded Lott as a racist, and you know it. I have been quite careful with my remarks, and spent some effort in doing so. I don't believe Lott is a racist. I have posted that belief at least a couple of times. I think he is a genial accomodationist, and not a race hater or baiter. I think he has a nostalgic view about the old south, and fails to appreciate how truly evil Jim Crow was, and thus has a tin ear to the gravity of the content of his comments, and the compelling need to have dealt with it immediately in clear language of the kind I could have written for him in about 3 minutes.

[sneakypete]

Rank and file Republicans would be holding a lottery to see who got to hunt him down with dogs....

Rank and file Republicans stand around and cheer while Bubba-2 hands the country off to illegal aliens,so why should they care about this? Besides,Bubba-2 and his RINO pals are just looking for a excuse to hand power back to the Dims,anyhow. They need to do this to provide a excuse for not doing anything conservative. Bubba-2 wants to go back to doing the only thing he knows how to do,whining about how "those mean old Democrats won't let me appoint conservative judges,etc,etc,etc. I WANT to,honest! PLEASE buy some more of my snake oil!"

[ApesForEvolution]

Did we expect anymore from this panty-waste?

[TBall]

The L's and the T's were mixed up and backwards. lott = toll

[sinkspur]

That's Lott's view of how America should have been....... His playing dumb act is just an act.

You're not acting.

Post a few of Lott's legislative "assaults" against blacks. If he's a racist, surely he's voted against blacks.

And surely you can explain why Lott has a higher percentage of blacks voting for him THAN ANY OTHER SENATOR IN THE OLD SOUTH!

Or are those blacks on ole Trent's plantation?

Have you ever BEEN someplace outside of New England?

We white folks pick our own cotton down here.

[Jesse]

Trent Lott, a walking advertisement for term limits.

What a selfish moron. He could give a damn, as long as he has it his way.

Why did the Republicans ever keep this idiot as the majority leader?

[deport]

This will be spun seven ways from Sunday.... It's a no winner at this point but the bottom line is you have to play the cards you are dealt at the time. I just don't think right now is the time to fold'em.

[HoundsTooth_BP]

Do you think that the democrats will do a better job than a republican senate? We need Lott right now to get our agenda through, we can always sack him later when our victory is in hand. Throwing him out now is just playing to the democrats and shooting ourselves in the foot.

[Frapster]

You're right - this issue is bigger than him. However, you and I define the issue differently. I think it's a mistake to force him out now. He's not being forced out for what he's said - he's being forced out Democrats who have told everyone what THEY think he said. That's the wrong reason. Yes, Lott should eventually step-down - but now is not the right time in light of the liberal agenda for him and the rest of the republican party on this issue.

[Robert_Paulson2]

Roger is a supremely faithful, "close the borders" kind of republican conservative. I heard him say it. I believe it because it explains a lot about LOTT. Truth is, it should make no difference, when folks play with and for the team.

I for one do not CARE if Lott was gay, but it DOES explain his kowtowing at ever turn over the years. HE may be.

If he is, and this is the end game strategy of the dems to STOP our takeover next month, we will have names dates and addresses of his paramours in a few days.

Lott, I don't believe, threatened to quit. I just don't believe it. And if he REALLY did. He needs to get his ass kicked out NOW. We don't need another two or three years of suberfuge, black mail and road blocks... and if the dems are behind the "use lott to block bush" movement, we might as well give them the split they want NOW so we can blame them again NEXT election, and use cheney for tie breakers in the meanwhile.

This is the problem with not really being in the majority, or knowing how to smash crotches when you are. BUSH should have called special session after special session to keep the dems off guard and block this power play and blackmail attempt from the start.

I wonder, with all the people leaving the administration this last week or two, WHAT THE HELL is going on that we are NOT being told? Alien invasion or something?

I cannot believe that we don't have a strategy for burying the dems yet. WHAT are we waiting for if we do?

It's time for the visqueen, pliers and bolt cutters...
Gordon Liddy busy next week?

[Cold Heat]

The Republicans need to present a united front against the shrill race baiter's.

You are dead right, but the reality that I see on this digesting thread, is the fact that our so called conservative base is more interested in righteous indignation our a lie about one of their own.

They are sucking up to the old marxist ploy of the politics of personal destruction, and are ignoring the obvious damage they are causing.

They are basking in the glow of a mob mentality, when the bunch that got them enraged is now tittering in the wings and watching the play unfold.

They do this to their own detriment yet rationalize it as "the moral thing to do" as they pat themselves on the back for being upright and American!

To you who are doing this I say "nice work folks!" You loose the game and the match, but you played fair! Now go home and take your tidily winks with you. With supporters like you, who the hell needs democrats!

[Joe Hadenuf]

I can't believe the stupidity of FR lately.

No it isn't. For a loooong time now, it's been hard to tell a conservative from a liberal on this forum. I mean new names have even being created, like neocon, Rino, Bushbots and some others that I wont mention. It's pathetic. Half the conservatives sound and act like just like the extreme liberal left. The Republican party has been hijacked, many miles back.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Trent Lott. Yet another indespensible man, at least in his own mind.

I say call his bluff. He won't resign, he'll just take a place on the back bench where he should have been all along. And even if he does resign, and is replaced temporarily with a Democrat appointed by the Gov. Musgrave, the GOP will still control the Senate with Cheney's tie-breaking vote, unless there's another party switcher. I question whether any Republican would cross the aisle knowing that a) the Mississippi seat is likely to revert to the GOP after the special election (Roger Wicker would be one good possibility), and b) the GOP is well positioned to gain Senate seats in '04, with Dubya at the top of the ticket.

This could get interesting. The Dems (at least for now) don't have the votes to elect one of their own as Senate President Pro-tem, but they could put their 49 votes together behind a Republican other than Lott, in which case only 2 GOP defectors (presumably including the winner of the vote) would be needed. I think that if it becomes evident that a) the Dems will vote as a bloc, and b) there are a couple of Republican defections announced in advance, the Lott support will collapse, and he'd lose in a landslide. That's two big "ifs," but stranger things have happened.

Lott must go as Majority Leader. He's self-absorbed, petty, and ineffectual, dependable as a conservative vote, but not made of leadership material. It would suit me fine for him to stay in the Senate, but if he wants to bail, I can live with that, too. I think the risk of a Dem takeover is minimal.

[No Income Tax]

Which do you want, Lott in the majority leader's post, or the conservative agenda moved forward? Pick one and write off the other, pal.

If Lott leaves the Senate, the Senate goes to effectively a 50:50 split since the Mississippi governor would appoint a democrat to fill Lott's seat. Just how is the conservative agenda going to move forward? Within the agenda, how do you expect Bush to get his judicial appointments through the Senate judiciary committee?

This country has far more important issues to deal with than some poorly chosen words from Trent Lott. The hate which is spewed from the left on a daily basis is far worse. The impact the democrat's policies (LBJ's Great Society) have had on minority families is criminal.

The democrats see an opportunity to at least get a split in power in the Senate. Except for a few voices, very few people here are looking at the motives behind the attacks on Trent Lott.

[WatchNKorea]

Lott is a China backing panty waist but we need him to keep full control of the Senate (unfortunately).

[sneakypete]

No matter what, leaving him in power due to blackmail just to have the majority puts us all in an ethically challenged situation.

You think THAT would bother Bush-Bots? ROFLMAO!

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Nope he is just a guy being sacrificed to the PC Gods of which many around here worship with a fervor beyond religious.

Do you think they listen? They're so busy being scared sh..less.

[tomahawk]

No, the party is getting what it deserves for this huge error in judgment. Lott is harming Bush, harming the GOP, and harming his nation. If he has decency (which is highly in doubt), he would vacate the leadership post.