LOTT THREATENS TO QUIT THE SENATE IF FORCED FROM LEADERSHIP

Newsnight with Aaron Brown | 12/13/2002 | Jonathan Karl

[sinkspur]

Trent Lott, in a conference call with 27 GOP Senate Republicans today, said that he would leave the Senate if forced from the Leader position.

Jonathan Karl said three or four of the Senators viewed this as "blackmail," but that the majority still support Lott and want him to continue as Leader.

[Real Cynic No More]

Lott may leave on his own, but he is not going to allow the hyenas to force him out.

That's a good thing.

Yup. The Republicans should not bow to Democratic pressure on this. If Lott is to go, it can't be now.

[habs4ever]

Well he did.He's human.

Besides, if you don't think he's going to be following the Bush playbook, then you need a cat scan.Lott isn't the POTUS.

[ex-Texan]

Lott is an ass!

No ... I didn't really mean that. Sorry !

Lott is an @sshole with a Big "A" !

He treatens this and threatens that and wiggles his way around the Senate like an old Barbershop Queen .... Jerk. Jerkwater jerk.

Drop Kick Him Out on His @ss Anyway! That kind of disloyalty we don't need. He threatens to flush the entire string of victories down the toilet unless Bush caves in to Lott's frigging blackmail!

[BuddhaBoy]

I've been reading this post, waiting for someone to figure out that Bush is almost better off without a Republican Senate, unless he has a veto proof majority.

The Republicans will call Lott's bluff, and he will NOT quit the Senate because no one would give him a job elsewhere. Bush does not want Lott as Leader, and he doesnt care of the spectacle the media would make if Lott were to leave anyway. He did fine with Daschle as leader, and anything he didnt get, Daschle got the blame.

Reagan got most of what he wanted with a Democratic Senate, and Bush will do the same if he has to. Let the media laugh, Bush will win in the end, but he wont have to. Lott will step down, and he will shut up about it.

[holdonnow]

I see, another graphics whiz. Have you ever tried to type words on your keyboard?

[koax]

how do you know that i'm wrong?

i don't even know whether i'm right!

any normal person would demand a retraction, especially since kogo-am 600 has such high visibility. kogo is heard in all of southern california, including los angeles. 17 million people live in socal.

[GraniteStateConservative]

Reagan showed he abandoned the Democrat Party. Lott is still a Southern Democrat.

[sinkspur]

Trent "Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Forever" Lott, You're a bigot and an infantile jerk

Well, you finally posted something that begs me to tell you how reprehensible your posts have been for the last five days.

And now, in an obvious slur on the South, you put up a "NO DOGS, NO NEGROES, NO MEXICANS" sign.

I'd invite everybody to go look at that sign, especially my cohorts from below the Mason-Dixon line.

Contemptible, even for you.

[tomahawk]

So now Trent Lott shows what he really is, a Piece of Sh*t.

[GWfan]

I asked one of my employees today what she would do if I demoted her from management to filing clerk. She got real pi$$ed off. Then she realized I was making a point. She sure would have quit if I had been serious.

[trick question]

You should spend less time on Hannity and Colmes. It is affecting your ability to do things other than throw insults.

[Texasforever]

You forgot "terroist". I am really getting an education on a lot of FR republicans.

[P-Marlowe]

I hope people are happy around this place.

Hey! He's YOUR HERO!

Not mine.

[Sabertooth]

What I would say to the GOP caucus (but then I would have said a lot of things sooner and differently than Lott from the getgo after the initial faux paus), is that I serve at your pleasure, and will do what you all think best. If I thought remaining as ML was best, I would argue that case, but accept the judgment of my peers. That is the responsiblity of any leader, at any time, in my opinion. IF what Lott did is true, that is beyond the pale, and he needs to be knifed as soon as it is in the best interest of the GOP, all things considered.

I completely concur. At every turn, Lott appears to have spurned the path of honor, even in disgrace.

Now we're supposed to live with this festering sore as Majoritly Leader whose bunker mentality has him lashing out at the party he pretends to serve?

[jwalsh07]

You know Kristinn for the last week I've been telling anybody that would read it that it was either ML or out. And I was castigated, repudiated and every other kind of ated you can think of.

Well now I'm telling you that if Lott leaves we lose the majority, we lose judicial nominees, we lose on PBA and we lose on tax cuts. President Bush will also be hamstrung in his war on terror and iraq because we are moving into a Presidential election cycle.

You can believ it or not. The folks here and I'm sure the baiters on the left are outraged at this "blackmail" when you all just tried to run Lott out on a rail.

Please.

[holdonnow]

And other than tax cuts, exactly which of all those conservative domestic agenda items the administration has proposed are you talking about? Another campaign finance bill? Another farm bill? Another extension of unemployment? Another Kennedy education bill? I want not only Lott and the congressional Republicans to advance a conservative domestic agenda, but the administration as well. You claim to care about these things, but so far there's no indication that you do.

[Texasforever]

Hey! He's YOUR HERO!

Nope he is just a guy being sacrificed to the PC Gods of which many around here worship with a fervor beyond religious.

[A Citizen Reporter]

"If there wasn't a recent history of Democrats switching to the Republican party in the Senate......

Huh?

[Real Cynic No More]

The fact that the Democrats are calling for his demotion is reason enough to keep him aboard for now. Look what happened with a perjuring rapist in the White House? The Senate Republicans were scared to death to vote to convict on the impeachment charge. It's time they learned how to fight. Taking a stand in support of Lott at this time is the only acceptable solution. We just have to quit eating our own!

[uncbob]

Well for all the freepers that thought it was good strategy to laugh at the democrats guess who the hell is laughing now.
You can blame the Stupid party senators that voted for this boob as leader since 94