In some prior posts re Lott, you had suggested at one point that Bush had not worked against Lott. FWIW, that's not how Lott felt about the matter.
Harry, please note the comments by one Rep. senator who said the Rep. Senate wants to pick their own leader; consequently, he might vote for Lott despite what the WH wants.
Guess what? Frist is the new Majority Leader. And that's because Bush is the figurative Commander in Chief of the GOP.........
ted
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The Seattle Times
Nation & World: Thursday, December 19, 2002
Lott angered by actions in White House
By Jim VandeHei
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — Sen. Trent Lott yesterday lashed out at the White House for undermining his campaign to remain Senate Republican leader as pressure mounted on him to step down.
On a day when Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., became the first Senate Republican to explicitly call for his ouster, Lott struck back at the White House for leaking negative comments about him in recent days.
"There seems to be some things that are seeping out (of the White House) that have not been helpful," Lott told reporters in Biloxi, Miss. He also voiced his concerns in a phone call with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Republican sources said.
Lott's friends say he is upset at the White House not only for refusing to support him but also for what they regard as behind-the-scene efforts to push him out. Lott, on several occasions in the past two years, has risen to Bush's defense, most recently in the debate over authorizing the use of force to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer yesterday denied that President Bush or his aides are trying to undermine Lott's bid to remain leader. But numerous White House officials and top presidential advisers have said in recent days that Lott has become a hindrance to the Republican Party's goals and should be replaced.
If Lott survives, Bush might have a harder time moving his agenda through the Senate, Republicans say, because Lott is unlikely to forget the president's sharp rebuke last week and the White House's subsequent signals of its displeasure. While the president himself remained silent on the issue for yet another day, his brother and the secretary of state spoke out.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told reporters that the Lott controversy is "damaging the party," especially its efforts to reach out to minorities.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, who earlier rebuffed Lott's request for a statement defending him, said he "deplored the sentiments" of Lott's Dec. 5 remarks in support of the pro-segregation presidential candidate Strom Thurmond.
"There was nothing about the 1948 election or the Dixiecrat agenda that should have been acceptable in any way to any American at that time or any American now," Powell said.
In his Dec. 5 remarks, which echoed a 1980 comment, Lott said the nation would have been better served if Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948. Thurmond carried four Southern states, including Mississippi.
Also yesterday, Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., Congress' only black Republican, reversed field after defending Lott on national television Sunday. Appearing on CNN, Watts suggested that Lott not try to keep his leadership post.
"I can tell you that if it was me, I would not put my family nor my grandchildren nor my party through that," he said.
Bush, after helping Republicans win back the Senate this fall, has considerable clout among GOP senators, particularly those elected this year and those facing re-election in 2004. Two key senators, both of whom insisted on anonymity, said the clandestine campaign by some White House officials is backfiring.
"The backlash has started," said one senator, who is leaning toward voting for Lott for leader at the Jan. 6 meeting scheduled to address the issue. "We were elected, we are senators and we want to pick our own leader."
Chafee joined Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla., Lott's deputy for the past six years, as the only Republican senators who have strongly suggested that Lott should step aside.
"The only way to have a change, in my opinion, is for the White House to come in here and say to Majority Leader Trent Lott, 'It's time for change,' " Chafee told reporters in his state.
Lott, working the phones from Mississippi, said he has no plans to resign and believes he can survive a vote by his colleagues. He would need 26 votes to survive. Based on what senators are saying publicly, he has a chance.
Copyright © 2002 The Seattle Times Company |
