AMERICA - The Right Way!! (Day 1747) [Remember the Trade Center!!]

With Lott in power, will our agenda get through?

There was I think a real misunderstanding of what Trent Lott could and would do. But the bigger misunderstanding was what Trent Lott's followers could and would do. Lott has many friends in the Senate.. on both sides of the isle.

For example Frist stupidly leaked to other Senators before the 2002 election that the President was going to back his attempt to remove Lott as Majority Leader. The Majority leader's election is normally held in January. And was due in early January of 2003. But the rules allowed the majority leader election to be held anytime after it was determined which party would have the majority.

When Lott found out about the overthrow plot, he called a meeting of all Republican Senators just a couple of days after the 2002 Election. That was in November 2002. All Senators knew that President Bush wanted Lott fired but they re-elected Trent as Majority leader by a unanimous vote. There was a clue in that vote that most people would have figured out. The President apparently did not.

Lott then got Daschle who was still majority leader until the new senate convened in January, to call a special session of the Senate in early December of 2002. In that session with Daschle preventing a Democrat filibuster, several Bush appointments to appellate courts were confirmed. Lott did that to show Bush he would not hold a grudge over Bush trying to get him fired and that Lott could get Daschle to help him get things passed that President Bush wanted passed.

Lott in the middle of December made the the "He woulda been a great president' statement about his mentor, Strom Thurman. It was said at Thurman's retirement party. Rove and Bush used the Lott remarks and the right wing media to take him down and replace him with Frist. They knew that no Senator would stand in the way of removing a racist as majority leader and therefor they painted Lott and Thurman as racists.

Yet Thurman had been the first Senator to hire high level staffers who were black. Strom, for a Republican, was very popular with blacks. Thurman started hiring black staffers in 1964. The ink was not dry on the civil rights act when Strom started hiring black staffers. In his re-election efforts Thurman did very well with black voters. Few if any Republican's have done better with black voters than Strom.. In his last election in 1996, Strom got over 35 percent of the Black votes in South Carolina.

Bill Clinton, our first black president, was on that ballot and Blacks had to split their votes to cast a votee for Strom and a vote for Clinton. Lott also gets black support in the mid 30s when he runs as well. Lott also has black staffers. It may surprise many to learn that painting Lott as a racist angered Lott and many of his Senatorial friends.

By the way, Kennedy and many northern liberals have lilly white staffs. It was the Kennedy liberals that exempted the senate from discrimination in hiring rules. Strom always exceeded the laws requirements. But Peggy Noonan, Krauthammer, Coulter and others right wing pundits did not mention Teddy as a fellow racist.. just Strom and Trent.

If you think many of Lott's friends on both sides of the isle were ticked .. you have a clue. It may also surprise you to know that many Senators on both sides of the isle were personal friends with Strom Thurman. Strom was a very courteous Southern Gentleman. He did favors for both Republicans and Democrats. He helped many and he educated many of them in the ways fo the senate. Members on both sides of the isle liked Strom. They did not appreciate Bush and Rove's media friends trashing a 100 year old dying man for statements he had made in 1948. There were and are several senators who want to to get even for the memory of their friend Strom. Every one knew Strom was dying. Attacks while a man is near his death bed are not real popular with his friends and fellow workers. Bush should have known that.

But those offended are politicians..All of them. They wait until the time is right to payback with interest. They only fight when the time is right and they believe they will win. This years events prove they did not forgive and they did not forget.

They have been laying in wait until the Bush approval numbers fell. They have started doing what Senators have done for centuries when Presidents take down one of their own. They screw the president.

You may recall that Ike laid very low in the Joe McCarthy situation. Ike knew better than to mess with the Senate. He was very afraid of earning the anger of Joe's friends in the senate. They could not defend Joe and survive.. So they didn't. Just like Trent and Strom's friends didn't Ike knew Joe had supporters in the Senate. Had Ike piled on they would have waited until Ike really needed them and they would not have been there for him. Some said Ike was afraid of Joe McCarthy. Ike was smart enough to know when not to do dumb things.

Frist, with much help from his fellow Senators, has been made to look like an ineffective and clueless leader. Frist has been very ineffective at playing the Senate game. Traditionally Majority leaders develop a close relationship both at work and at home with Minority leaders, committee chairmen and ranking members. It is just smart politics. Frist has had nearly 3 years to overcome Lott by becoming a friend of the senators bearing a grudge. He has failed to do so. Perhaps Bush and Rove thought he would and thus neutralize Trent.

Minority leaders can cause Majority leaders much pain as Frist is finding out. Secret Sessions et all are not nice. Rule one for Majority leaders is to make Minority leaders and Committee Chairmen personal friends. Majority leaders often give dinner parties for important administration and public officials. It is traditional for the Majority leader to invite the Minority leader and his wife to attend those dinners. It is real helpful if the wives on both sides of the isle become friends at said parties. Kids becoming friends are even better. Only in the last two months has Frist invited Ried to a meal. An obvious and now quite DUMB MOVE!!!

I don't think the situation can be resolved by doing anything to Lott. That would really come back to haunt any one who tried.

One other point. It has dissipated in recent years, but the Senate was often referred to as the most exclusive club in the world. Just 100 members. However in many respects it is still very much like a club. And like many clubs there are exclusive groups within the club. Those groups have always transcended party labels.

I don't think Bush or Rove studied the Senate and how it works. They need a crash course and they need it now. .

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