Posted on 01/03/2003 10:32:10 PM PST by DWar
January 3, 2003
GOP seeks absolution from Rev. Al
If Republicans thought that tossing Trent Lott off the sleigh would slow the pursuing wolves, they were mistaken. The moral shakedown of the GOP, for Lott's sin in telling 100-year-old Strom Thurmond he would have made a great president, has only just begun.
On Dec. 27, Al Sharpton got the meeting he had demanded of Lott's successor, Sen. Bill Frist. From the report by James Lakely in The Washington Times, Al laid down terms of surrender.
"I told (Mr. Frist) that this could be an opportunity for the Republicans to clarify themselves. . . . They should not take Senator Lott's decision to step aside as a sign that the concerns of the black community have stepped aside." Translation: "We want more!"
Note the unstated claims behind this extortion demand. First, Al is asserting a right to speak on behalf of the "black community." Second, he is acting as though the GOP is under moral obligation to him. And Al emerged from the Frist negotiations with concessions. Frist agreed to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus to hear its concerns about President Bush's legislative agenda and judicial nominees.
Sharpton's assertion of moral hegemony extends to Lott, to whom Al gave conditional absolution. I will be watching Lott closely, he told the press, and I will determine whether or not Lott's "epiphany" on Black Entertainment Television -- where Lott said he now supports a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and affirmative action "across the board" -- was genuine. "He (Lott) could be an interesting advocate for affirmative action in the U.S. Senate."
Members of the press must have been holding their sides laughing. When they threw up the defiant remark by Sen. James Inhofe that he rejects the idea that "if you're not for the Democrats' liberal social agenda -- then you're a racist," Al backhanded Inhofe.
"That is an arrogant response to people who have engaged in the civil rights struggle," said Al, and returned to his "cordial conversation" with the main man, Bill Frist.
"I'm encouraged (Mr. Frist) returned the call," Al graciously conceded. "It sets a new tenor, and I hope we're not just dealing with photo ops but with equal ops -- equal opportunity."
A coming test of whether the GOP is truly repentant for Lott's sin and earnestly seeking to extirpate racism from its ranks, said Al, is whether the Senate dumps five Bush judicial nominees: Terrence Boyle of North Carolina, Jeffrey Sutton of Ohio, Carolyn Kuhl of California, Priscilla Owen of Texas, and Charles W. Pickering of Mississippi, a friend of Lott.
Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights charges all five with having "records of deep hostility to core civil rights principles." Sharpton agrees that whether the GOP Senate dumps the five will be a measure of whether their conversion, post-Lott, is authentic. "(Republicans) can use this as an opportunity to show that there is a genuine attempt to address these concerns, or whether they were just trying to toss one guy over the side and let the ship sail in the same direction."
Let me concede: One has to admire the chutzpah of Al Sharpton. For who is this character laying down demands to the president's party and the U.S. Senate? Let's look at the record.
Rev. Sharpton is not some civil rights hero who was bloodied at Selma Bridge. He is a Harlem hustler, the linchpin of the infamous Tawana Brawley hoax of 1987. That black 15-year-old accused several white men, including Duchess County, N.Y., assistant attorney general Steven Pagones, of kidnapping and raping her. A grand jury found Brawley to be a liar. Al was sued and ordered to pay a share of $345,000 in damages for the defamation of Pagones.
Al was also chief incendiary in the Crown Heights incident in Brooklyn, where, after a fatal traffic accident involving a child, a Hasidic Jewish scholar, Yankel Rosenbaum, was knifed to death on the street. Al was the demagogue who denounced "white-owned" Freddie's Fashion Mart in Harlem, which was burned to the ground, with seven dead inside. When a jury acquitted four white officers in the shooting death of Amadou Diallo, whom police thought had pulled a gun, Sharpton was there to stir up mob protests.
Does Al play the race card? Of course he does, because Al has no other card to play. The real question is why does the majority leader of the U.S. Senate feel he must meet with a racial demagogue and shakedown artist from Harlem who cannot deliver to the GOP a single vote? Is the Republican Party that full of guilt?
Is the GOP really in need of moral absolution from Al Sharpton?
©2002 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
The argument is that the GOP has now acknowledged Al Sharpton's heretofore imaginary jurisdiction; all of us knowing that Al Sharpton is just a stand-in. (Mainly because they're all stand-ins.)
LOL, That reminds me of the story of the young kid who needs help with an essay on the difference between "Theory and Reality", So he asks his dad to help him.
Dad says No Problem son this is easy. Go ask your Mother if she would consider sleeping with Bill our nieghbor if it meant she would get $10,000 bucks.
The kid comes back and says to his Dad, She thought about it a few minutes and said for $10,000 she would do it.
Dad says to his son, Now go and ask your sister the same question
The kid comes back after a few hours and said, Yes dad after a very long time of thinking about it, She said she would do it.
The Dad says, Well Son... There you have it, Now go and write your essay on the difference between "Theory and Reality"
The kid says , But Dad! I don't get it, How does this help me write my essay?
the dad says, It's easy Son!, In "Theory" you have a Sister and a Mother, But in "Reality" all you have is a couple of Whore's!
:-)
ROFL! I picture him in some dark depressing tenement flat pounding out these bleak articles on his dusty computer keyboard... with his head in the oven turning on the gas.
The end can't come soon enough.
Pat can never see a silver lining without focusing on the cloud
He's no patsy for Al Sharpton. No matter what bitter, old 1% Buchanan says.
WHY IS IT DRIVEL TO SAY THAT FRIST SHOULDN'T MEET WITH THE FRAUD AND SLANDERER, SHARPTON? IT DOES THE NATION NO SERVICE FOR FRIST TO GIVE THIS EVIL MAN (SHARPTON)CREDIBILITY. I'M GLAD PAT HAS THE COURAGE TO SAY THE OBVIOUS. WHY AREN'T YOU?
Wrong on both points. We don't "hate" Buchanan...and there is precious little truth in this "editorial" to be found.
I agree Pat has "gone off the deep end" on many issues in the last 5 years (maybe more). But he is spot on in criticizing the kowtowing to this race baiting, propaganda generating, publicity whore. Someone, somewhere needs to stand up and tell the truth about Harlem Hustler Al like O'Reilly has done with Rappin' Jessie Jackson. But the truth needs to be shouted over and over again and again until these charlatans are driven from the public stage.
Why? They do far more damage to the Democrats than they could ever do to Republicans. Let them keep talking.
What if Frist took Pats advice and said, Hey Sharpton, take your race baiting sorry arse back to Harlem where you belong.
That would certainly help the situation wouldn't it?
BTW... YOU DON'T HAVE TO SHOUT :-)
This is the most oxymoronic phrase ever uttered in political discussion. The GOP currently thrives, not due to their clever political tactics but due to the dynamic leadership of G W Bush.
I will give GW all the credit he deserves..but the fact is he wasn't even around when the GOP ended over 40 years of Democrat dominance of Congress during the 90's.
Sure GW worked to help elect Republicans in Nov...but they happened to be on the right side of issues the people cared about and put up the right candidates.
For you to claim that "clever political tactics of the GOP." is "the most oxymoronic phrase ever uttered in political discussion" after they won such an exception victory in the mid-term election is just absurd.
It amazes me how everyone totally accepts Buchanan's premise, when he did no reporting on this "story". He has no firsthand quotes from anyone involved. He's only commenting on a story in the newspaper and drawing his own conclusions.
This is a COMMENTARY not a news article. Get a grip.
Al Sharpton's race baiting ship would of come in if Bill Frist denied him a visit. Use your head bud, It's there for a reason
HEY PAT .. got some news for you .. Lott lost his job because of Lott and no one else ..
There was a time I would agree with you. I've come to realize that the reverse is true. Frist meeting with Sharpton DOES compromise, in light of Lott's departure. And it's Sharpton who is the bigot in a $1500.00 suit.
There is greater hatred being expressed for a man who has spent most of his lifetime articulating conservative points of view (recent years excepted), fighting physical, intellectual, spiritual and political wars the likes of which all of the armchair, hobby horse, political enthusiasts will never imagine much less participate in. And the point of the post, the debauchery of the GOP bowing down to the notorious ilk of humanity called Reverend Al Sharpton is barely a blip on the radar screen. I don't care much for the Pat Buchanan of recent years either. But the vastly larger threat is for the GOP to lose its soul by doing obeisance to the devil.
Buchanan's biggest contribution to conservatives has been to give them a bad name and his biggest claim to fame was confusing Al Gore voters on the Florida butterfly ballot.
I really think you are missing the point as to what the GOP strategy is in dealing with Sharpton. They have little if anything to lose, but the Dems have a lot to lose when it comes to Sharpton's political ambitions.
Just sit back and watch. You might be pleasantly surprised.
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.