HOLD YOUR NOSE

HOLD YOUR NOSE
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher

December 19, 2002

Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) (AP) With the Christmas season approaching, the pressure on Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) to quit as incoming Senate Majority Leader continues to gather momentum at such speed that he has been effectively and completely neutralized in any capacity for that position. Yet he continues to hang on to a power base that evaporated as quickly as fellow Republican Richard Nixon's did back in 1974 when the evidence became overwhelmingly clear that Nixon ordered the Watergate cover-up.

The odor of vanity and ego-stroking has reached such a pungency that just about nobody wants to hear the self-serving sanctimony coming out of the mouth of the man from Mississippi - after all, anyone with an IQ over 40 knows it is a classic case of CYA at best, and way too little and far too late at that.

The funny thing is, that while his remark may have been the latest in a string of verbal gaffes with the latest one at Strom Thurmond's birthday party being the one that broke the camel's back, the fact is the camel's back snapped back in January of 2001 shortly after President George W. Bush was sworn into office. Think about that for a moment while we take a closer look at the current firestorm, and I'll get back to my major bone of contention with Lott in a while.

A man of Lott's experience and profile has to know that everything he says is not only going to be recorded and covered by the media, it is also going to be analyzed and thoroughly reviewed and compared to other things he has said in the past. There are people out there who do this full time, and Lott had to realize this as well. For one to have served in the public eye as long as he has and to have attended the 100th birthday party of a living legend in American politics such as Strom Thurmond (R-SC), he had to know what he was saying was being taped. Yet he still opened his mouth and shoved both feet in them - all the way to his ankles.

For one to have publicly made segregationist remarks of such kind was inexcusable and beyond pale, particularly for a Senate leader; however, he is a Senator from Mississippi and as such, it needs to be kept in mind that a large number of his constituents do in fact feel that way. So in a backwards sort of way, he is doing his job - sort of. But the fact remains that he can no longer serve as Senate Majority Leader when the 108th Congress convenes in January - not only for the gaffe at Thurmond's party, but for something far more sinister and even more stupid. So if you're willing to hit the REWIND button with me just a bit, let's go back in history to just after the president was sworn in, and we had a 50-50 tie in the Senate with Vice President Dick Cheney as the 51st tie-breaking vote for the Republicans, thus giving them control of the Senate.

It was about this time that then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) went into Lott's office saying to the effect, :Oh, Trent, since we ended in a tie, can we share power in the Senate?" to which Lott said, "Sure!"

Excuse me, but what on God's green earth was wrong with this guy? Given the underhanded tactics of the Democrats in the past, he had to have suspected something, yet he acquiesced without so much as a whimper - a true wimp indeed. Sure enough in May, Senator James Jeffords (then R-VT) bolted, declared himself an Independent and now sits with the Democrats - this, only after he struck a sweetheart deal with Daschle that ensured he would keep his committee chairmanship. This was not about principle or the people of Vermont. It was about Jeffords and to a similar extent Daschle, and like a deer caught in the headlights, Lott - as usual - didn't see it coming.

Were the tables turned and had Gore won the election with a 50-50 Senate tie with Joseph Lieberman as the 51st tie-breaking vote and had Lott approached Daschle about a power-sharing agreement, Lott would have left Daschle's office ten seconds after making the request with his tail between his legs after being told very graphically and unceremoniously "where to get off" and only then to hear the uproarious laughter of Daschle and his pals as he left the office.

For Lott to have even agreed to such a move is akin to Winston Churchill to agree to 'share power' with Josef Stalin following the end of World War II. Such a move is treasonous to the causes the GOP is seeking to advance, it is destructive to the agenda the White House is seeking to promote and on which they were elected. Lott's continued presence will only erode it further and as stated in a FOX News article last night, it is feared that Lott's retention as Majority Leaser would give de facto control of the Senate to the Democrats.

The best way to have a WIN-WIN solution to this is to have Lott step down voluntarily, put Don Nickles (R-OK) in as Majority Leader, and given that Mississippi is home to the Pascagoula Naval Shipyards, award chairmanship of the Armed Services Committee to Lott and find a way to squeeze McCain further into the background.

This would also keep Orrin Hatch (R-UT) firmly in command at Judiciary where he is sorely needed to keep Leahy (D-VT), Biden (D-DE) and Schumer (D-NY) in check, in order that Bush's nominees for the bench can be cleared with all due speed. This is necessary in order that the severe shortage of qualified judges on the federal bench be approved and appointed as soon as possible without obstructionist tactics or worse, "Borking" on the part of the Democrats from jamming up that part of Bush's agenda.

Clearly the time has come for Lott to go, and even more clearly, that time is now! ***

Photo of Timothy Rollins courtesy of staff files
Photo of Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) courtesy of the Associated Press