Consequences of Lott

TownHall.com ^ | 12/23/02 | Robert Novak

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Trent Lott, on the telephone from Pascagoula, Miss., reaching out to colleagues, asked one of the Senate's Republican wise men last Wednesday what he could do to save his majority leadership. Only one thing, he was told: Get George W. Bush to publicly endorse you. That was impossible, because the president had made a decision with far-ranging consequences.

Since Lott's Strom Thurmond statement, erosion of support among Republican senators was fed by their perception that the White House wanted a change. President Bush had ordered aides to say nothing for or against Lott. That impacted on one fellow Deep South senator who publicly declared loyalty to Lott but told me "the president cut out the legs from under Trent." This senator privately declared Lott dead on Thursday, 24 hours before he quit.

As principal author of Lott's demise, Bush must now face its consequences: limiting his freedom in policy touching on race. He has to decide whether to approve Solicitor General Theodore Olson's proposal for U.S. intervention against the University of Michigan in the racial quota case before the Supreme Court. He has to decide whether to renominate U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering, a friend and Mississippi Republican ally of Lott's, for the appellate bench. To go with Olson and Pickering would raise accusations of "racism."

The Lott affair quickly burned off the remaining Republican glow from mid-term election victories, but its impact transcends that. Democratic operatives dragged out the old chestnut of candidate Bush's 2000 visit to Bob Jones University, with spokesman Ari Fleischer harangued about it at Friday's White House briefing. The theme is that the GOP's Southern base, the bedrock of its national election victories, is an illegitimate legacy from racist Dixiecrats.

Once panicky conservatives had turned against Lott, the Left muffled its personal criticism of the senator. Bill Clinton, in New York last Wednesday while attending an event for the European Travel Commission, signaled what was afoot. "From top to bottom," he said, Republicans support what Lott supports. "They've tried to suppress black voting," said the former president, "they've run on the Confederate flag in Georgia and South Carolina . . . So, I don't see what they're jumping on Trent Lott about."

Prior to Lott's fall, the left-wing People For the American Way released a study showing that his voting record on racially charged issues was identical to possible successors -- including the supposedly more moderate Sen. Bill Frist. Indeed, the American Conservative Union rates the two as nearly identically conservative in lifetime voting records: Lott 93 percent, Frist 88 percent.

People For the American Way equates George W. Bush's record with Lott's, asserting: "It was correct for President Bush to criticize Lott's praise for Thurmond's segregationist presidential campaign. But those words will ring hollow if the Administration and its Congressional allies continue to promote policies that undermine the nation's ability to make good on the American promise of equality and opportunity for all." Thus, in failing to defend Lott, the president opened himself to remorseless attack.

Frist as the probable new majority leader may not defend well against this assault. The Tennessee heart surgeon is much smoother than professional politician Lott, and unlikely to speculate publicly about a 54-year-old presidential campaign. However, conservative foes of cloning legislation were exasperated by Frist's equivocations as leader on this issue and fear the worst in how this relatively inexperienced senator will function as majority leader.

Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, on the telephone to colleagues late Friday in a tardy and futile campaign for majority leader, described himself as candidate of the Senate and Frist as candidate of the White House. Indeed, as the successful Senate Republican campaign chairman in 2002, Frist functioned like a member of the White House staff.

If the president and the new majority leader are jointly sensitized by attacks from the Left, the cost of Lott's 17 seconds of joshing a centenarian may run high indeed. Republicans cannot be the nation's majority party today without the solid South, and Democrats want to build on the Lott fiasco to undermine that base. Which way the White House goes on the University of Michigan court case and the Pickering nomination will provide two early clues of the Lott affair's impact.

©2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Contact Robert Novak | Read his biography

[aristeides]

President Bush had ordered aides to say nothing for or against Lott.

So why did Colin Powell make his statement last week, I wonder. I find it hard to believe he would have made that statement without White House clearance.

[VRWC For Truth]

Once panicky conservatives had turned against Lott

Panicky? More like disgusted with Chester.

[TLBSHOW]

The Lott affair quickly burned off the remaining Republican glow from mid-term election victories, but its impact transcends that.
....
This is a giant problem that will get worst if Lott is not voted ML tomorrow.

[TLBSHOW]

I guess Novak and Buchanan are now liberals too? LOL

[beckett]

With each passing year, Novak is more and more out of touch. His stance on the Lott affair shows he's really lost it.

[VRWC For Truth]

Pat is off the reservation and consorts with Fulani. He has zero credibility. Bob is from the Bill Kristol school and he has none either. They both are more Liberal than Frist.

[okie01]

"Which way the White House goes on the University of Michigan court case and the Pickering nomination will provide two early clues of the Lott affair's impact."

Perhaps. But those two issues would be impacted irrespective of whether the White House chose to support Lott or not.

In fact, it would probably be politically more difficult to file an amicus brief in the Michigan case and re-nominate Pickering were Lott still the Majority Leader.

[TLBSHOW]

Well of course it does. NO BECKETT

What it show is the President is going to get burned from this and those defending should instead be telling him so.

[TLBSHOW]

Why? How to you back that up?

[TLBSHOW]

What I see is a one giant smear of Trent Lott by the left and by the right. Its disgusting. Now we are going to smear Novak and others that speak the truth, yep that will work! NOT!

What are you going to do as more stories come out that tell the truth about this mess? Smear everyone?

[MHGinTN]

What, ten posts on this thread and you're already hysterical. If you weren't such a nuisance with your incessant Bush bashing and hysterical cries for keep the buffoon, you would be comical at this point. Are you related to Trent, by the way?

[TLBSHOW]

No

[VRWC For Truth]

You are starting to sound like the left. Shrill and above criticism.

[Bella_Bru]

At this point? He already is the Crown Prince Clown around here. Hell, he is almost screaming, "Vote Buchanan".

[Nick Danger]

Democratic operatives dragged out the old chestnut of candidate Bush's 2000 visit to Bob Jones University, with spokesman Ari Fleischer harangued about it at Friday's White House briefing.

So the reporters at the White House are actually Democratic operatives? I mean, we all suspected as much, but for Novak to say this out loud is big.

To go with Olson and Pickering would raise accusations of "racism."

So what? They're going to howl about racism no matter what Bush does. It isn't going to stick. Bush is quite obviously not a racist, so they can howl all they want. It will just make them look like jerks.

Once panicky conservatives had turned against Lott

That is such BS. "Conservatives" had been gunning for Lott for a long time. He was widely seen as a spineless appeaser who made lousy, one-sided deals with Daschle that benefitted only Democrats. Most conservatives didn't "turn on" Lott, they pounced on him when he tripped; or they were genuinely offended by what he'd said. Still more piled on when he tried to save himself by turning into Al Sharpton.

One guy we now know does not lurk here: Robert Novak. He gets his opinions about what conservatives think by talking to William Kristol.

Republicans cannot be the nation's majority party today without the solid South, and Democrats want to build on the Lott fiasco to undermine that base.

Which they propose to do by characterizing White Southerners as closet racists? What the Hell kind of way is that to make friends? Novak has his head up on his butt on this one. This column is junk from top to bottom.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Novak has his head up on his butt on this one.

If this keeps up Novak will need to have his navel replace with plexiglass so he can see where the he!! he is going.

[TLBSHOW]

I respect you but I believe with all my heart we will lose big time over this issue and not standing with Trent, hey I know its just my opinion and as such I am now called a liberal.

Nite Nick, and I will pray I am wrong but I don't think so just like I new we would have a landslide election I know I am right about this issue. We are going to get burned big time.

Oh well as Kenny Rogers sang...

Every gambler knows that the secret to survivin'
Is knownin' what to throw away and knowin' what to keep
'Cause every hand's a winner, and every hand's a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep."

And when he finished speakin', he turned back toward the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep,
And somewhere in the darkness, the gambler, he broke even,
But in his final words I found an ace that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold 'em,
Know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away
And know when to run.
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table;
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done.

[okie01]

You won't agree, of course.

But, having done the right thing with Lott, the GOP has gained some slack on the issue.

Not with the liberals or their media or the "civil rights leadership", but with the folks legitimately offended by Lott's comment -- both black and white.

[Chemnitz]

One theory is that Pat Buchanan is Deep Throat. I am inclined to think it was Alexander Haig.