A Few Thoughts About Trent Lott’s Resignation

A Few Thoughts About Trent Lott’s Resignation: After taking a savage two-week long thrashing, Trent Lott has finally decided to step down as Senate majority leader. Here are a couple of things I wrote about Lott early on…

— RWN on December 9, “Now I’m sure Lott only made that comment because he was trying to be nice to Thurmond at his retirement party. However, it’s absolutely inexcusable for the Senate Majority Leader to say that sort of thing — especially since it plays right into the false racist stereotype that Democrats continually try to pin on Republicans… Maybe Trent can take a lesson from Newt and step aside. I would be pleased if he did….”

— RWN on December 10, “Lott is damaged beyond repair with his own party. There is absolutely no way he should remain Senate Majority leader after what he’s said and the insincere sounding apologies he has given afterwards. The best argument that can even be made for Lott at this point is that he’s a bumbling incompetent who keeps putting his foot in his mouth and is not a racist. Is that the sort of guy we need leading the charge in the Senate?

Not only do I think that Lott should not be the Senate Majority Leader, I don’t think he will be the Senate Majority Leader when this is over. Lott could survive this sort of beating from the left, but not from the right — and the right is hitting Lott harder than the left. Lott has forever more been politically crippled by his thoughtless words and his abysmal handling of the controversy that surrounded them. So the sooner Trent Lott does the right thing and relinquishes his leadership position, the better.”

Ten days ago I knew that Trent Lott wasn’t going to survive as Majority leader and I wish that Lott had figured it out sooner as well because it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble. Now I’m sure that some Conservatives are going to be unhappy about Lott’s resignation for a number of reasons: they think what he said was taken out of context and blown out of proportion, they don’t like giving the Democrats a “victory” on the issue, they resent having the GOP tarred as racists, the Democrats are huge hypocrites on the race issue, etc, etc.

But keep in mind that there are some positives to this situation. Bill Frist looks likely to replace Lott and most people, myself included, think he’d be a much better Majority leader than Lott. Moreover, the Democrats have severely overreached on this issue. They’ve smeared Reagan, states rights, people who want to fly the Confederate flag in SC & GA, people who voted against the MLK holiday, Republicans in general, and the even entire South as “racists” over a comment made to a 100 year old man at his birthday party. That’s going to infuriate a lot of people who resent being falsely called racists. Also, I’m hoping that this entire flap will embolden the Democrats to be more up front about pushing vile and discriminatory policies like Affirmative Action and Reparations. That can only help the GOP. You’re also going to see a lot more Republicans who’ll be willing to nail the Democrats on the issues of race and anti-Semitism. After all, we’re the party that forced Trent Lott to step down because we felt he made a racist comment even though there was a possibility that Lott was going to give up his seat. Compare that to the Democrats attempt to steal the 2000 election in Florida & the Democrats sleazy replacement of Torricelli with Lautenberg. It’s now fair to say that we’re the party of conscience as compared to the Democrats who’ve shown time and time again that they’re willing to do anything to hold on to power.

So hold your head up high, the GOP and Conservatives handled this thing the right way and in the end, this may actually be a good thing for us.

***Update***: Glenn Reynolds has an excellent suggestion that I heartily endorse….

“I think the Republicans should demonstrate that they’re taking the country beyond the legacy of segregation by passing the “End to Racism and Segregation Act of 2003,” which would provide that neither the federal government, nor the states, nor any entity receiving federal funds may take race into account in any manner in the making of hiring, firing, promotion, or benefits decisions.

What better way to show we’ve moved beyond racism than to put an end to official racism by statute?”

That makes perfect sense to me — someone get Bill Frist and the phone and tell him to get to work on this ASAP…

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