The GOP, Party of Cowards

Most Americans seem to believe that Trent Lott deserved to suffer for his "insensitive" comments at Strom Thurmond's birthday celebration. Now that Lott has been forced to step down as Senate Majority Leader, neo-conservative Republicans are the ones cheering the loudest.

"We've wanted him gone for a long time," some have said. "We needed to get rid of him and move on with our agenda." The trouble is, no one in the party seems to know exactly what that agenda is.

Of course, that hasn't stopped neo-cons before. Pragmatism has always trumped principle, and as long as the polls reflect public approval for their actions, they really don't care about anything else. They must increase their majority in 2004 at any cost, and to do that they must first shake their xenophobic image.

As everyone knows, the GOP has long been branded as the party of racists. Such labels have been successfully utilized by the liberal left for years, and Republicans have tried everything to keep those labels from sticking. The end result is that in order to present the voting public with a kinder, gentler GOP, Republicans typically begin adopting Democratic positions.

It's the same three-step process every time: 1) liberals make the accusation of racism against a Republican, 2) the Republican denies the charge and 3) the Republican agrees to sign on to the liberal agenda, hoping that in doing so he might prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is not a racist. The entire fiasco surrounding Trent Lott is only the latest example of this kind of Republican cowardice.

Lott's comments sparked all the predictable reactions from all the usual suspects. Men like Al Sharpton and NAACP president Kweisi Mfume —both veteran champions of racial divisiveness —wasted no time in attacking the senator.

Sharpton, who had remained strangely silent in 2001 when Senate Democrat Robert Byrd let fly with his "white niggers" remark, said, "[Lott] should step aside. No one is saying that if the people of Mississippi want to elect him to the Senate that they don't have the right to do that. But to be the head of the party in the Senate, given the sensitivity of that position for the interest of the country and the party, Mr. Lott should step aside."

Mfume's response was a bit more harsh. He called Lott's little speech "hateful bigotry that has no place in the halls of the Congress," and dismissed Lott's subsequent apology as "too little, too late."

Reacting to the verbal barrage from the left, the neo-cons scattered. No one even bothered to mention the possibility that Lott was simply acknowledging the distinguished political career of his 100-year-old colleague. Nobody proposed that when the senator from Mississippi implied that we would be better off had Strom Thurmond been elected president in 1948, he was referring to some of the more noble causes Thurmond stood for, like states' rights and a less-intrusive federal government.

No, the neo-cons were so desperate to prove that they could be just as racially sensitive as their slightly more liberal counterparts that Lott's political fate had already been sealed. He was the perfect fall guy, and his sacrifice was worth it if it meant keeping the GOP in power.

Republicans, listen up. Whether you agree that Trent Lott should have resigned as Majority Leader or not, his ousting is yet another sign that you just don't get it. No matter what you say or do, you will always be viewed by the left as a bunch of bigots and racists. Bending to political peer pressure doesn't help —in fact, it makes you look weak. The sooner you learn that, the sooner we can begin repairing the damage your party has done to the conservative cause.

But it's probably too late. The mob has spoken, and Trent Lott has been forced out of his leadership role. Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah summed up what Republicans expect of Bill Frist, Lott's successor: "I think Bill has a kind of a more moderate record and a more moderate approach toward things, and I think that it's going to be very difficult to criticize him."

In other words, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." And that, my friends, has become the battle cry of the neo-conservatives in the GOP, Party of Cowards.

In fact Frist was so impressed with Storm that on Nov 18 almost 2 weeks before Trent made some jokes at a birthday party about Storm,

Bill Frist was making

A Tribute to Strom Thurmond on the Senate Floor

A Tribute to Strom Thurmond: The Senate's Icon of Time
Senate Floor Statement

Monday, November 18, 2002
Floor/Committee Statement Of Senator Bill Frist, M.D.
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Mr. President, born nearly a century ago, when Mark Twain was alive and Teddy Roosevelt was still President, Strom Thurmond has led a life of public service unmatched in the modern history of America. He has been a friend to all of the more than 400 Senators with whom he has served. And he will forever be a symbol of what one person can accomplish when they live life to the fullest.

Strom Thurmond has served in the Senate for all but four of my 50 years of age. Though that is a remarkable accomplishment itself, we should not forget what Strom accomplished before coming to the Senate.

He was a teacher, an athletic coach, and a Superintendent of Education. He studied law under his father, Judge J. William Thurmond and became a City Attorney, County Attorney, State Senator, and, eventually, a Circuit Court Judge.

Though exempt from serving in the military, Strom -- who had already been an army reservist and a commissioned 2nd Lieutenant by the age of 21 -- volunteered for active duty on the day we entered WWII. As a member of the 82nd Airborne, he parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day and helped secure the foothold for the Allies to liberate the European continent.

For his distinguished service, Strom was awarded five Battle Stars and 18 other decorations, including the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star for Valor, the Belgian Order of the Crown and the French Cross of War.

After the war, Strom returned home to South Carolina. He was elected Governor in 1946 and then ran for President of the United States as the States Rights Democratic candidate. Although Harry Truman prevailed, Strom won four states and 39 electoral votes. That tally still stands as the third largest independent electoral vote in US history.

Despite not winning the presidency, Strom was determined to serve in Washington. He ran for the Senate in 1954 and became the only candidate elected to Congress by a write-in vote in American history. Strom has been re-elected eight times since. Clearly the people of South Carolina value principle, character and courage in their leaders.

Though it has been more difficult in recent years for Strom to make it home to South Carolina, that has not stopped South Carolina from coming to him. And it shouldn't. For decades Strom attended every county fair, handled every constituent request, and sent a congratulatory note to every high school graduate, many of whom came to intern in his office.

It has been said that almost 70 percent of South Carolinians have met Strom Thurmond face-to-face.

Over the course of his long and distinguished career, Strom Thurmond has been a witness to history. As a young man, he knew people who had seen Andrew Jackson, and he campaigned for the votes of men who fought in the Civil War. He and Herbert Hoover won their first elective office in the same year -- 1928.

But Strom has more than seen history; he's written it. Not only is he the oldest and longest-serving Senator, he has served with about one-fifth of the nearly 2,000 people who have been members of the Senate since 1789. And he is nearly one half the age of the United States Constitution itself.

Like the great experiment that is American democracy, Strom Thurmond has certainly faced his trials -- both politically and personally. Yet, through it all, he has always held tight to his principles, always upheld his beliefs, and always defended American values at home and abroad.

Today we say thanks to this giant of a man not only for the history he has witnessed and written, but for the service his life will inspire for generations to come. God bless our friend, our colleague, and the Senate's Icon of Time, the senior Senator from South Carolina, Strom Thurmond.

Mr. President, I thank the chair and yield the floor.

http://frist.senate.gov/press-item.cfm?id=188730

NOW WHERE THE HELL WAS THE OUTRAGE THEN Luis?

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