Bursting the Bubble-Sen. John Warner Proposing Bob Dole & Howard Baker Going to Lott's Office..

ABC News ^ | Decmeber 18, 2002 | Liz Wilner

[PLK]

No wonder Lott dropped the ball on Clintoon's impeachment. It takes one to know one. He is clearly an egomaniac who will stick this out to the bitter end before placing the good of his party and country first.

He is only a liability to the Pubs at this point. Gotta go.

[ewing]

Or Haley could appoint himself to the seat in 2003 as Governor.

[ewing]

I still haven't heard Lott apologize for the sham impeachment trial.

[dfwgator]

I bet if you probed even deeper, you'd find that Trent Lott is really a Rooosian spy, planted here by the Bolsheviks to undermine our nation.

Furthermore he isn't really a man, it's a woman, baby!!!

[FBD]

I think Lott is a chameleon, always trying to appear "like minded" with whatever audience he is performing to.

At Thurmond's birthday party, he was for segregation.

On Black entertainment TV, he is for affirmative action.

Will the REAL Trent Lott please stand UP?

[afuturegovernor]

I'm not sure...this is from his website

Ted Stevens is Alaska's senior Senator. Stevens' tenure in the Senate makes him the 6th most senior member among his colleagues, and 2nd among Republicans.

I assume the only Republican member more senior than Stevens is retiring Senator Strom Thrumond.

[Darlin']

Ah, but Haley wouldn't take office as governor until January 2004. Lets hope this mess isn't still bubbling at that time, if it is we'll all be stark raving mad. FOFLOL.

[ewing]

Right, perhaps Lott will get tied of not being Majority Leader by the beginning of 2004..

[ewing]

Warner may be older, but Stevens probably has more time in the Senate.

[afraidfortherepublic]

...I bet if you probed even deeper, you'd find that Trent Lott is really a Rooosian spy, planted here by the Bolsheviks to undermine our nation.

Nooooooo. That was Bubba Clinton.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I still haven't heard Lott apologize for the sham impeachment trial.

AMEN!

[Tennessean4Bush]

I agree. I was supportive of Lott trying to stay on. But really, at this point, can anyone possibly paint a scenario where Lott remains as SML that is reasonable and likely?

Too many bridges burned by too many people. Many of the conservative writers and opinion leaders have been writing column after column that he should step down. Bob Dole has gone on record saying as much. Several GOP senators have either said it openly or are reported to be saying it privately. Bush administration has completely burned their bridges, IMHO. I mean, if Lott stays on now it looks like Bush will only reluctantly work with him.

Bush administration was too quick to comment on this. They screwed up after Lott screwed up. They should not have commented until they had it all lined up as to what the end-game would be. Now, the Republican Senators have to make a very tough choice: do they thumb their noses at an enormously popular Bush and say "you have to work with him anyway and all the baggage he is bringing to the next term", or do they ask an old friend of theirs that most of them like and do not think he deserves losing the SML over this to resign his leadership post?

I think that George Will said it best: "Can anyone imagine a group of Pubs emerging from the caucus meeting Jan 6 and stating that Lott is their man to lead them?"

I still want to give Lott every opportunity to emerge from this but I am afraid too much has been said now by too many people on the Republican side.

[babygene]

"I think Lott is a chameleon"

That word describes most politictians, repub or rat.

[islander-11]

This man is like Gollum from "The Lord of the Rings." The only difference was that Lott didn't add, "my precious" after every suck-up comment he made on BET.

If you're someone's be-yatch once, you're a be-yatch forever. Lott was worth dumping long before he made his recent idiotic comments.

President Bush is sending an obvious signal that he wants the change made. The failure of Lott to deal with this mess (or, better yet, the lack of ability not to fall into such a large, festering swamp) indicates that he's simply not smart enough to head up such an important role. It also says that someone must really show him the door, as he won't be smart enough to leave with any dignity.

[AppyPappy]

There were also private discussions about whether party elders-perhaps former GOP leaders Robert Dole of Kansas and Howard Baker of Tennessee--should approach Lott soon to ask him to step aside for the good of the party.

They WERE the delegation sent to Nixon

[Paladin2b]

Or Haley could appoint himself to the seat in 2003 as Governor.

Good Lord, I hope not. A governor appointing himself to the Senate is a sure-fire kiss of death; the voters invariably resent this trick and dump him the first opportunity they get. In the nine times since the passage of the 17th Amendment, only one was able to win a subsequent election on his own. Kentucky Gov. Happy Chandler (D), who sent himself to the Senate in 1939, won in a special election in 1940 and again in 1942. (He resigned his seat in 1945 to become baseball commissioner.).

The last joker to try it, Governor Wendell Anderson of Minnesota appointing himself in 1977 to the seat vacated by Mondale when he was elected VP, caused such a backlash that the Republican sweep in Minnesota in the 1978 elections is STILL being called the "Minnesota Massacre".

[what's up]

Lott had made lots of these jokes over the last years to Thurmond. The Dems just jumped on this one for political expediency.

The President should have learned this lesson when they jumped on his DUI and defended Lott instead of cracking on him so hard.

I think this was a mistake on Bush's part.

[Southack]

Why would you think that I cared about any of this?

Republicans control the Senate no matter how it plays out. Bush has close to a two-thirds popularity rating. We control 26 of 50 state governorships and the majority of all state legislatures.

One legitimate scandal (as opposed to the fabricated scandals that are normally tossed at us) comes along and far too many people suddenly fear for their very political ideology.

Please.

The Party can take a few hits without imploding. We don't have to be perfect. We will make mistakes (and they will be corrected).

Life goes on.

Life is good.

Well, I've got to knock out the last of my Christmas cards and then go take advantage of the nice weather with some target practice. I'm thinking "Mini-14" today, but who knows, maybe I'll get in some skeet shooting with my trusty old 28 gauge. Then I've got to sign another software contract for one of my overly desperate clients (does EVERYONE panic at this time of the year??) and deposit some payments for accounts receivable.

In the meantime, you gentlemen please keep the faith.

[Dusty Rose]

Lott is toast.

[ChiefsMan]

I agree 100%. I think the short term pain of losing the majority in the Senate would be offset by the longer term gains of greater credibility.