Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trent Lott, Bill Clinton, and career politicians
TownHall.com ^ | 12/17/02 | Dennis Prager

Posted on 12/16/2002 9:55:13 PM PST by kattracks

It seems clear to just about every Republican other than Trent Lott that the senator should step down as Senate majority leader. It is clear to those of us in talk radio; it is clear to The Wall Street Journal editorial page; it is clear to the editors of The Weekly Standard; it is clear to black conservative thinkers such as John McWhorter.

Why is it not clear to Sen. Lott?

The answer is as unfortunate as it is obvious. Sen. Lott is a career politician, and most career politicians have one overriding goal -- political power. This is normal and not necessarily injurious; some career politicians do great good. But when a politician puts his career interests ahead of his party's interests (let alone ahead of his country's), it is injurious.

Take the case of President Bill Clinton. Had Mr. Clinton put the interests of his party (let alone his country) ahead of his own, he would have resigned the presidency. Al Gore would then have become president, and in all likelihood Mr. Gore, campaigning as an incumbent president and without the ethically troubled legacy of his predecessor, would have been elected president in 2000.

If Sen. Lott put his party's interests above his own, he, too, would resign -- and with far less cost to his career. He would still be a senator, just not majority leader.

The issue is not whether Trent Lott, the man, can be forgiven for his awful comments. He can be forgiven. The issue is whether Trent Lott can be an effective Republican leader. The answer is so obvious that only Sen. Lott's preoccupation with Sen. Lott's political career can explain his remaining as majority leader.

In case it is not clear why he should resign, let one more Republican make the case:

For a senator to say in 2002 that he is proud of his state for being one of only four states to have voted in 1948 for a man whose entire presidential campaign was rooted in racism is simply unacceptable.

Yes, all public officials make verbal gaffes, and when they properly apologize, and if their gaffe is inconsistent with their general behavior, they must surely be forgiven. Had Sen. Lott immediately and properly apologized, he might well have earned the nation's forgiveness. But his initial apologies were meaningless.

What should Sen. Lott have said and done?

In the hope that it will help anyone, public or private, who wishes to be forgiven for a sin, here are two guidelines taken from the "laws of penitence" as codified by the 12th-century Jewish philosopher Maimonides.

The first thing a penitent must do is acknowledge precisely what he did and precisely describe it to the injured party. It is entirely insufficient to tell a business partner from whom you have stolen, "I'm sorry for any thing I did that might have hurt you." You must say, "I stole $10,000 from you while you trusted me as your business partner."

Second, a penitent must offer restitution. Therefore, Sen. Lott should have said something like this: "My fellow Americans, I owe all of you -- especially black Americans, my state of Mississippi, and the Republican Party -- an apology. I said something awful. Though I did not mean it in this way, I said that I am proud that my state of Mississippi supported a third party in 1948 whose appeal was entirely rooted in racism. The truth is that I am not proud of this. My state was wrong in 1948, and while I am very proud of what Mississippi is today, I am not proud of that part of its past. Those remarks hurt black America, insulted Mississippi, and have given my party, which loathes racism, a bad name. In order to demonstrate how strongly I repudiate these comments and sentiments, I am willing to relinquish my role as Senate majority leader, if my party should so decide. It is far more important to me to undo any damage these remarks made to my country and to my party than to remain in this position."

Unfortunately, Sen. Lott did not say these things, but chose to place his political interests over his party's and his country's. For those who ache to see the Republican Party make inroads into black hearts and minds, this choice may turn out as devastating to his party as the choice made by another career politician, Bill Clinton, was to his.

©2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Contact Dennis Prager | Read his biography



TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-47 next last

1 posted on 12/16/2002 9:55:14 PM PST by kattracks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
I found it!
Please ping THIS thread. :o)
Although it would have been EASIER for thise of us who wanted to read Dennis Prager's wonderful commentary if they had let you post a link to THIS thread, and then LOCKED your duplicate thread, instead of PULLING it altogether...

2 posted on 12/16/2002 10:39:01 PM PST by RonDog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RonDog; CheneyChick; vikingchick; Victoria Delsoul; WIMom; one_particular_harbour; kmiller1k; ...
((((((growl)))))



3 posted on 12/16/2002 10:42:13 PM PST by Sabertooth
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
If Lott would have followed this strategy, not only would this have already blown over, he'd be widely respected for the way that he handled the situation.
4 posted on 12/16/2002 10:58:54 PM PST by alnick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth; Alamo-Girl; onyx; SpookBrat; Republican Wildcat; Howlin; Fred Mertz; dixiechick2000; ...
Trent Lott, Bill Clinton, and career politicians



Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

5 posted on 12/17/2002 4:52:31 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MeeknMing
Has Lott apologized again today yet? I expect it will have to be a daily occurance, for the rest of his career. He is damaged goods...

I also hear he is going to start working with the wacky Major Owens on some project as a sign of his repentance.
6 posted on 12/17/2002 8:38:16 AM PST by FBD
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: alnick
True. Lott was clearly in damage-control mode last week, with the aim of saving his sorry rearend, rather than actually apologizing for his insensitivity.
7 posted on 12/17/2002 8:56:53 AM PST by My2Cents
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Formerly Brainwashed Democrat
Major Owens...Is this the guy who claimed that sharks still circle the former trade route of slave ships?

I saw a bit of Lott on BET last night, and he's reached the point of grovelling. It's embarrassing. And the fact that he's now sold his soul in support of affirmative action shows how actually damaging keeping him as majority leader will be.

8 posted on 12/17/2002 9:00:05 AM PST by My2Cents
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: MeeknMing
Thanks for the heads up!
9 posted on 12/17/2002 9:26:57 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
WOW !!!

Well said !!

10 posted on 12/17/2002 10:00:00 AM PST by Dustbunny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MeeknMing
Lott COULD have gotten out of this relatively unscathed, IF he had been honest, straightforard and stuck by the principles of his party. Instead (especially after that BET thing last night) he seems bent on handing the Democrats his OWN head on a platter...at first, I truly believed that we MUST fight for him to remain majority leader...but after the AA flip-flop and the smarmy bribe offer to black Americans in general...the party is probably better off without him as majority leader.
11 posted on 12/17/2002 10:01:41 AM PST by cake_crumb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Dustbunny
It sure IS well said!
12 posted on 12/17/2002 10:02:45 AM PST by cake_crumb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Sabertooth
Prager is definitely one of the more thoughtful moral commentators of our day.

He sums it up in a nutshell: Lott screwed up. That's bad enough. But then Lott compounded the screwup by not promptly clearing the air about it.
13 posted on 12/17/2002 10:09:10 AM PST by Poohbah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MeeknMing
Thanks for the ping on this great article. I've been gone for a few days.
14 posted on 12/17/2002 10:41:29 AM PST by BOBTHENAILER
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: ~Kim4VRWC's~; A CA Guy; A Citizen Reporter; AFPhys; agrace; alisasny; anniegetyourgun; Amelia; ...
BINGO!
15 posted on 12/17/2002 10:45:28 AM PST by Howlin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: rdb3; Khepera; elwoodp; MAKnight; condolinda; mafree; Trueblackman; FRlurker; Teacher317; ...
Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

16 posted on 12/17/2002 10:50:58 AM PST by mhking
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
Perfect.

Had Lott said something akin to this, he would have been forgiven. There would have been some grumbling, there would have been some hand-wringing. But in the larger picture, Lott would have been viewed as a statesman, and an honorable man.

Instead, we're left with this sniveling, groveling, mewling animal who looks like the sick monkey on the Sprint commercials.

Lott handed the right the KY and bent over. And he's doing his level best to get the rest of the Right to do the same damn thing.

17 posted on 12/17/2002 10:53:25 AM PST by mhking
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Howlin
YEP .. BINGO
18 posted on 12/17/2002 10:56:29 AM PST by Mo1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: kattracks
The issue is not whether Trent Lott, the man, can be forgiven for his awful comments. He can be forgiven.

The issue is whether or not Lott even NEEDS "forgiveness".

The ONLY thing the man is guilty of is saying some flattering remarks to a senile old geezer who happened to continue breathing long enough to become 100 years old.
For this, the 'Rat poverty pimps wish to crucify him on the cross of political correctness, joined by a mob of spineless RINOs who're willing to capitulate to their extortive demands.

19 posted on 12/17/2002 11:05:15 AM PST by Willie Green
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mhking
"Had Lott said something akin to this, he would have been forgiven. There would have been some grumbling, there would have been some hand-wringing. But in the larger picture, Lott would have been viewed as a statesman, and an honorable man."

Unfortunately, he did the exact opposite. Now the entire Republican party (all but Lott) is being blamed for Lott's blatantly CRAVEN behavior by a few people who claim to be Republicans. This is SOOO bizarre!

20 posted on 12/17/2002 11:06:03 AM PST by cake_crumb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-47 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson