A Very Sorry Majority Leader
HAYES, STEPHEN F.
A Very Sorry Majority Leader Trent Lott apologizes, over and over. BY STEPHEN F. HAYES AFTER A WEEK of confusion, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott held a press conference Friday in an attempt to...
...The saga began Thursday, December 5, at a now infamous 100th birthday tribute to Senator Strom Thurmond...
...And the founding ideals of our nation and, in fact, the founding ideals of the political party I represent was, and remains today, the equal dignity and equal rights of every American...
...Lott, like the other speakers, heaped praise on Thurmond for his long career...
...I have asked and am asking for people's forbearance and forgiveness as I continue to learn from my own mistakes and as I continue to grow as both a person and a leader...
...And late Friday afternoon, Washington Post reporter Thomas Edsall called Lott's office for a clarification...
...His apologies were stronger, but so were his rationalizations...
...Lott would later explain that phone interviews were the best he could do since he was vacationing in Key West, where there aren't television stations to provide a studio...
...On the one hand, it has never been President Bush's style to insert himself into a controversy...
...They aren't...
...when Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him...
...Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country," said Bush...
...It was a bad week for Trent Lott and for the Republican party...
...Stop for a moment and think about that...
...John Kerry, who in an unrelated development last week announced a presidential exploratory effort, called for Lott to step down as majority leader...
...Lott, too, was on the phone...
...Al Gore, perhaps the most accomplished race-baiter in politics today, ran toward cameras everywhere to express his horror...
...If you're going to shoot the king," said one aide, "you'd better be sure you kill him...
...It's about the Republican party...
...The appearances failed to quell the growing chorus calling for Lott to step down...
...I want us to find a way to reach out and to build on our mistakes that we have made in the past...
...Asking for forgiveness is reason-able—everyone makes mistakes...
...Lott took those explanations public himself on Wednesday, in phone interviews with conservative talk radio host Sean Hannity and CNN's Larry King...
...And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either...
...While many of his Senate colleagues had avoided criticizing their leader in public, few had spoken on Lott's behalf...
...Then Lott went too far...
...That commentators around the country have spent more than a week debating whether Trent Lott is racist or just inept is a measure of the damage his comments have done...
...Even the Army, Thurmond used to Stephen F. Hayes is a staff writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD...
...Despite what Democrats would like to suggest, this is not because most or even many Republicans are secretly nostalgic for segregation...
...And it's because Republican officeholders, however understandable their instinct for self-preservation, failed to speak out strongly against one of their own on a matter of principle...
...By Tuesday, amid growing criticism of the original tribute to Thurmond's presidential bid and Lott's ineffective clarifications, his office released another written statement...
...He has apologized, and rightly so...
...I want the Republican party not to be hurt by this," Lott said Friday...
...I'm not about to resign for an accusation for something I'm not," Lott declared, responding to accusations that he is racist...
...Early in the week, there was already a dramatic difference in the way the comments were received by Republican staff on Capitol Hill and their bosses...
...Fleischer said Bush supports Lott as majority leader "unquestionably...
...He didn't...
...Lott's second written statement came Monday, after Tim Russert raised the affair on Meet the Press, and other Sunday shows also discussed it...
...And while that article also contained stunned reactions and strong criticism from washington observers, Lott wasn't worried...
...Younger staff members seemed to grasp the offensiveness of the substance of Lott's comments and the extent of the political damage...
...To read anything more into these comments is wrong...
...But wanting to do so and remain leader is not...
...He would mention Lott directly...
...Although many journalists were present at the recent birthday party, few quoted Lott's offensive remarks in their stories the next day...
...By Wednesday and Thursday," Lott would say later, "it got quite active...
...At a holiday party thrown that night by ABC reporter Sam Donaldson, Lott told guests that his comments weren't a big deal, and that Strom Thurmond believed principally in a strong national defense...
...we're proud of it...
...What's clear is this: The more Trent Lott speaks as the third-ranking Republican in America, the more his problem becomes the party's problem...
...Us to find a way...
...His message was direct and, some believe, threatening: We will remember who is supporting us in this time of need, and you'll want to be on that list...
...Senator Lott's remarks were intended to pay tribute to a remarkable man who led a remarkable life...
...Lott's chief of staff began calling local conservative activists to enlist their support...
...Lott immediately issued a statement embracing the president's criticism...
...Thurmond, of course, ran for president as a States' Rights Dixiecrat in 1948...
...He would appoint a replacement for Lott, presumably a Democrat, leaving the Republicans with a precarious one-seat margin...
...Rather, it's because Lott failed to deal swiftly and seriously with the substance of his original comment...
...We have made...
...ABC News online mentioned the comments, and National Journal's "Hotline," an inside-the-Beltway political newsletter, served as a megaphone, running the story under the headline "Lott Proud of Dixiecrat Role...
...When word leaked that Lott had scheduled a press conference for late Friday afternoon, preceded by a conference call with Republican senators, many on Capitol Hill assumed he would announce that he was stepping down as majority leader...
...My comments were not an endorsement of his positions of over 50 years ago, but of the man and his life...
...The early strategy—to a senator—was to keep quiet...
...As a measure of sincerity, that didn't help...
...Lott had already spoken to a handful of Republican senators, and by midweek he started calling the rest to explain his comments, to assure them that the worst was over, and to encourage them to offer their public support...
...I want to say this about my state...
...As Bush's staff discussed whether the president should single out Lott by name, Bush settled the debate personally...
...By Friday, tensions between the White House and Lott had grown...
...Our mistakes...
...Nothing could be further from the truth and I apologize for my statement to anyone who was offended by it...
...Let me be clear: Segregation and racism are immoral...
...The first one blamed those who were offended by Lott's remark, and the second one plainly contradicted his words...
...He has apologized for his statement, and the president understands that that is the final word from Senator Lott in terms of the fact that he said something and has apologized for it...
...The statement read: "This was a lighthearted celebration of the 100th birthday of legendary Senator Strom Thurmond...
...But those comments came before Lott's phone interviews, and by Thursday it had become clear that Bush would say something about the issue at a speech he was scheduled to give in Philadelphia...
...Those words appeared in the Post story Saturday...
...When I think back about Strom Thurmond over the years, what I have seen is a man that was for a strong national defense and economic development and balanced budgets and opportunity, and that's the kinds of things that I really had in mind...
...White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had said earlier in the week, "From the president's point of view, Senator Lott has addressed this issue...
...Democrats, in a display of moral courage they reserve for Republicans and race, piled on...
...The controversy is no longer just about Trent Lott...
...Liberal Internet journalist Josh Micah Marshall began commenting on his website, talkingpointsmemo.com...
...BY STEPHEN F. HAYES AFTER A WEEK of confusion, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott held a press conference Friday in an attempt to clarify his position on segregation...
...At the White House, meanwhile, the administration debated the proper response...
...Almost half a century after the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, almost 40 years after the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and it's necessary to report that the nation's third-ranking Republican does, in fact, reject segregation...
...Critics jumped on this statement, too, pointing out that Lott chose a descriptive word, "discarded," rather than a judgmental one...
...Instead, he got a rationalization and even a mild rebuke...
...As the name suggests, the Dix-iecrats split from the Democrats for one reason: to defend segregation...
...The same cannot be said of Republican elected officials...
...Every day our nation was segregated was a day that America was unfaithful to our founding ideals...
...say back then, couldn't force whites to share their "swimming pools" and "chuches" with the "Nigra race...
...Perhaps he would consider stepping down for something he has become: a burden for his party...
...On the other, the substance of Lott's offensive remarks required a strong presidential rebuke...
...A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past...
...The president went on to say that suggestions that segregation is acceptable were "offensive" and "wrong," but Fleischer told reporters that Bush did not expect Lott to resign...
...Black groups called the remarks "racist," and with virtual unanimity—excepting Pat Buchanan, Bob Novak, and Sean Hannity—con-servative commentators ripped Lott...
...Sources say Lott made clear that if he were forced to step down from the Senate leadership, he would also likely resign his Senate seat, a significant development because Mississippi's current governor, Ronnie Musgrove, is a Democrat...
...These two Lott statements didn't work for fairly simple reasons...
...Segregation is a stain on our nation's soul," said Lott...
Vol. 8 • December 2002 • No. 15
