Lott Faces Continuing Resentment From Conservatives

Washington Post ^ | 12/14/2002 | Thomas B. Edsall and Dan Balz

[wardaddy]

Public scoldings between Pubbie leaders only emboldens and strengthens our foes....we have been doing this for years.

All of you folks who think Lott should be tossed into the eternal flames of hell for uttering "insensitive racial comments" may carry the day. You're certainly carrying it here on this forum.

Be careful what you wish for.

This is a vexing quandry for me personally. I don't like Lott at all and I like Bush pretty well....I'd give him a 9.5 out of 10.

But I'm against ya'lls' stand for reasons varying from Machiavellian realpolitk to my utter hatred for political correctness to my loathing of the double standard at play here.

But you may well prevail. We'll see.

Like VRWC said.....Yep...I hate to have to draw my line in the sand with Lott the fop but so be it. Can't choose Poster Boys or the time and place in my view with the balance of the Senate at stake.

regards.

[sinkspur]

If Bush wants him to, yes. Bush can make it so that no one lobby firm even thinks of hiring the guy if he leaves and can offer him a nice appoitment if he stays. Bush can also give him the cover of "being asked to stay amd work for the president" line.

You're dreaming. Bush is the new kid in old Washington. There are lobbying firms who'd hire Lott just to spit in the face the Northern establishment.

All in all Bush can make this work however he wants.

Lott has the whip hand here. He can live on his Senate pension, if he has to. He won't have to.

[The Iguana]

May be you don't get it.

Correction. You don't get it.

I fear you're the one who doesn't "get it."

Do you ever wonder why the GOP pulls in only 10% of the black vote?

Oh yes: it's because of the Professional Grievance Crowd and the groupthink mentality of the black community.

There's no doubt about that. But the grievances didn't take place in a vacuum. 38 years after Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act and Thurmond defected, followed by Nixon's "Southern Strategy," Republicans are working hard to shed their past and win the black vote back.

Tone-deaf behavior like Lott's is by far the exception to the rule but that won't keep it from doing lasting damage to those efforts. Especially if we defend this man at every turn no matter what he says or does.

Political and moral principles don't mean much if you're not willing to pay a price to uphold them.

The Democrats certainly aren't. I'd like to think we're better than that.

[wardaddy]

Bush will not bring any further significant blacks into the Pubbie fold in my view. They will vote Dem until either the Dems abandon them or there is a miraculous growth in blacks with high tax burdens and two parent families....none of which look likely anytime soon. In fact the opposite looks more likely given black out of wedlock births. Until that is "cured", everything else is just a band-aid on a severed stump of an appendage.

Latinos???..Mexican in particular(the Cubans and a number of others are already with us)....maybe in a few generations and if all these wetbacks don't cluster in urban areas and emulate the Puerto Rican model. I'm not optimistic in the short run....

Besides...they will change our cultural landscape to the point that who knows where we'll be......and black political clout will be diminished correspondingly ironically to the point that whether or not 95% of blacks vote Dem or not won't matter. What will matter is how whites and Mexican immigrants vote 50 years from now if trends hold.

[wardaddy]

That's a reasonable point Iguana but not one I think many senators would take.

However, the balance of power issue is not my only reason for taking Lott's side (ugh...I hate even typing that). I've already stated on this thread ad nauseum what those reasons are so I won't bore you again.

Man....if any had told me I would defend Lott against many many of my fellow FReepers just a week ago.....I would have laughed. Incredible. Boy ...all that sweetness from 11-5 has sure turned sour quick. Landrieu....and now this. Politics in this age is swift and sure isn't it?

regards!

[Reagan Man]

>>>I support the President 100%.

I too support the President 100%. I just don't agree with him all the time. I didn't agree with President Reagan all the time either.

>>>President Bush said Lott's comments were offensive and wrong. Are you telling me that you don't agree with that?

I've said Lott's remarks were stupid, but I didn't find them to be insensitive. I don't believe Lott was being intentionally or purposely malicious with his remarks. I don't believe Lott made a conscious effort to raise the issues of racism and segregationism, so he could be condemned and run roughshod over, by so many on the right.

I called for Lott to step down as majority leader after the Jeffords fiasco. I support any challenge Frist, McConnell or Santorum may mount against Lott's leadership. But I don't believe that decision should be made by the liberal establishments, white majority, black minority, political pundits or by the POTUS either. That decision is up to the GOP Senators.

[Reagan Man]

>>>... Republicans are working hard to shed their past and win the black vote back.

This is almost 2003. Republicans have shed "their past"! Except spineless wonders like you, find it necessary to kopwtow to the liberal establishment blacks, who continue to attempt to extort whatever they can from scared whites. Give me a break.

[TLBSHOW]

the attack on lott by spineless freepers is page one here, my local democrat paper has it all buried. lol

[TLBSHOW]

the democrats are letting the right destroy itself! one rat says!

A 'leftwing smear' from the like of Charles Krauthammer, Peggy Noonan, Cal Thomas, Mona Charon, The National Review, Bill Kristol? Those leftwingers?

this from a non partisan sites rats

Capital Grilling

[txoilman]

I totally agree with you! There are many conservatives out there who have the conservative ideals in their heads but not in their hearts.

Any turkey can quit and I hope Lott stays as the leader of the republican controlled senate. He knows how to get things done and I wish him the best because he is truly a compassionate conservative.

[dfwgator]

he is truly a compassionate conservative.

Yep, he was truly compassionate to Bill Clinton, wasn't he?

[Wait4Truth]

I disagree. This President is not about lip service. He wants to enact legislation that will actually help the poor minorities. I think if they see some plans that actually lift them up instead of hold them in place, the intelligent ones will begin to question the RATS dedication. The RATS held up a number of bills last time around that would have helped the poor just so they could say the President doesn't care. Bush is a man of action - the opposite of clinton who just said the right things but accomplished little for them.

[Wait4Truth]

I think Lott's remarks were very insensitive. They were also stupid - on that we agree. As far as WHO should make the decision on Lott, I side with you that it should be his fellow Republican senators. That's why the President did not call for his resignation or ask him to step down as leader. He handed the decision to the Senate. In fact, he released a statement saying he thought Lott should remain ML. What is going on behind the scenes, we don't know. As far as Lott being driven out by the Right or the Left, it looks about equal to me. My guess is that most Republican voters were turned off by Lott's remarks. FR is pretty far-right compared to the general population. I am way to the right of most people I know, except for my son who is to the right of Atilla the Hun. LOL!

[txoilman]

you reap what you sow buddy!

[Roscoe]

The Dixecrats were arguably more constitutionalist than the Republocrats.

Racists love 'em.

Here's what the 1948 sample ballot put out by the Mississippi Democratic Party had to say about the race between Thurmond and Truman: "A vote for Truman electors is a direct order to our Congressmen and Senators from Mississippi to vote for passage of Truman's so-called civil rights program in the next Congress. This means the vicious . anti-poll tax, anti-lynching and anti-segregation proposals will become the law of the land and our way of life in the South will be gone forever."

Jonah Goldberg, National Review Online

[wardaddy]

It's not about truth or good intentions....no offense to your moniker.

It's about perceptions and 9 outta 10 blacks including even the much touted emerging black middle class are simply not going to come running over to the Pubbies unless Bush decides to offer the same lures as the Dems do.....mainly my money and my well earned political power as a married man with a family of four who pays a shiteload of taxes and is very active politically. I'm not doing all that so Bush can give it all to a black populace with acute social and cultural problems and who pay a tiny share of taxes proportionately. They can earn it like I did.

That's what the Dems are for: "Something for Nothing" or "We Owe You".

I see a lot of breastbeating racial guilt on this forum....Hell I feel like I'm at a Cornell West Book talk in New Haven...lol....but you know I don't hear squat about shame.

Shame has a price to honour. Guilt like talk is cheap. Folks feel guilty and opine about it and feel good and morally superior...and this forum is chock full of so called Conservatives who fall for the old tried and true racial guilt siren like lemmings.

Your views as espoused on this thread are not part of the solution. Sorry, that's just how I feel. I'm sure other than being hypersensitive about race that you are a fine person.

Oh and btw....this does not include you but these Lott crucifying threads are absolutely teeming with many of the same usual suspects who rush to South bashing threads to get their fill of self righteous indignation indulgence at any and all things Southern. Small suprise.

Bush is a good...possibly great man but Moses he's not.

Nite.

[tpaine]

The Dixiecrats - Would We Have Been Better Off Had Thurmond Won in 1948?
Address:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/805932/posts?q=1&&page=81