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Speculation on Lott's fate is clearly the Washington parlor game du
jour....Inquisitive minds want to know: Why aren't more senators speaking out on the
matter? Does Lott secretly have enough votes to survive? What role is The White House
playing behind the scenes? And why are so many cable tv news shows coming up with all
those silly lower third graphic puns on Lott's name?
Backlash afoot?? The Washington Post quotes two "key" anonymous senators who said the
clandestine anti-Lott 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."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9276-2002Dec18.html?referer=email
"This is a Senate matter," said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. "The worst thing the
president could do is get into the middle of it."
The following senators have indicated to NBC they will vote to keep Lott as their
caucus leader:
1 - Mitch McConnell (Ky.)
2 - Rick Santorum (Pa.)
3 - Arlen Specter (Pa.)
4 - Orrin G. Hatch (Utah)
5 - Mike DeWine (Ohio)
6 - Ted Stevens (Alaska)
7 - John Ensign (Nev.)
8 - Judd Gregg (NH)
9 - Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Co)
10- George Voinovich (Ohio)
11. Thad Cochran (MS)
Mortman notes -- Watch what the chairmen do. They don't want to lose Lott and the
Senate -- they'll lose their committees. That's why he predicts Lott Stays...
OK, tonight we'll do the front half on Lott with Armstrong Williams and Dem
Strategist Bob Shrum with a couple of others tbd...In the D block we'll get into
Clinton's comments yesterday and debate it with "B-1 Bob" Dornan
Lots of news moving on the Iraq front: The U.S. is "pooh-pooh-ing" the Iraq weapons
report and will formally declare that Iraq has violated a U.N. resolution on
disarmament...DoD officials are saying Saddam will engage in a "scorched earth" policy
of warfare and two top general are coming out against Wolfowitz's military
strategy....We'll get into all of that with the Godfather of the Alpha Hawks Richard
Perle, Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board and Fmr. Asst. SecDef under
Reagan...Richard Perle is available through http://www.benadorassociates.com/
U.S. News & World Report says of Perle: "His culinary specialty is lemon and
grapefruit souffles--fragile, puffed concoctions he has mastered in his suburban
Maryland kitchen"
Perle will be in the Buzz...
Fun Clinton News...Clinton on Lott
"How can they jump on him when they're out there repressing, trying to run black
voters away from the polls and running under the Confederate flag in Georgia and South
Carolina?" Clinton said Wednesday in New York. "I mean, look at their whole record. He
just embarrassed them by saying in Washington what they do on the backroads every
day." (AP) http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002-12-18-clinton-lott-gop_x.htm
The Briefing will be on Holiday break tomorrow and will return late next week....My
best to all...
Dominic Bellone wrote, compiled and edited the Briefing from Washington, DC
Lott USA Today/Gallup Poll: http://www.usatoday.com/news/poll1218.htm
Senator's Outspokenness on Lott May Backfire...As a leading fundraiser and the number
two official in the Senate Republican leadership, Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) would
seem well-positioned to succeed the suddenly vulnerable Senate GOP leader Trent Lott
(R-Miss.) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9343-2002Dec18.html
Powell: "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"
Trent Lott insists he will continue as top Senate Republican, but his struggle to
salvage his political career is complicated as some colleagues start to question his
ability to lead. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20021219/ap_on_go_co/lott_112
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, two prominent
Republicans who rarely speak out on national domestic issues, today joined the chorus
of critics of Senator Trent Lott. (The New York Times)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=68&ncid=68&e=3&u=/nyt/20021219/ts_nyt/powell_and_jeb_bush_criticize_lott_for_remarks
If his apology for racially divisive remarks is sincere, Senate Republican Leader
Trent Lott should push for the Rebel flag's removal from public display in
Mississippi, local NAACP officials said Tuesday. (The Sun Herald)
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/thesunherald/news/local/4762832.htm
Tuck, black Republicans defend senator..."As Jesus said, 'Let him without sin cast the
first stone,' " Tuck said. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)
http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0212/18/m04.html
As Washington focuses on whether Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) will hold onto his
leadership post in the wake of his comments regarding segregation, a handful of his
fellow Senate Republicans are wondering how the controversy will affect their
re-election chances in 2004. (Roll Call)
http://www.rollcall.com/pages/politics/00/2002/12/pol1219b.html
Armstrong: During Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday celebration, Sen. Trent Lott
casually remarked that the country would have been better off if Thurmond had won his
third-party bid for the presidency in 1948. Just one thing: Thurmond ran as a
segregationist http://www.townhall.com/columnists/Armstrongwilliams/aw20021219.shtml
Walter Williams: During World War II, ex-Ku Klux Klansman, now U.S. senator, Robert
Byrd vowed never to fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand
times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this
beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest
specimen from the wilds."
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/walterwilliams/ww20021219.shtml
Black conservatives see Lott betrayal...Defense of GOP now feels tainted by leader's
comments (The Washington Post) http://www.msnbc.com/news/849588.asp?0cv=CB10
Nachman interviews Rep. J.C. Watts on the Trent Lott controversy....The only black
Republican in Congress comments on the furor http://www.msnbc.com/news/848788.asp
"It doesn't help to have this swirling controversy that Sen. Lott, in spite of his
enormous political skills, doesn't seem to be able to handle well," the President's
brother said yesterday. "Something's going to have to change." (NY Daily News)
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/44814p-42146c.html
Hardball Briefing "Fresh Face" Watch...
In a race now wide open with the departure of former Vice President Al Gore, retired
Gen. Wesley Clark has made some preliminary steps toward an Iowa caucus bid...Clark,
who could offer the Democrats a fresh face and a credible voice on the issues of war
and terrorism, said Wednesday (Des Moines Register)
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/20029892.html
Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), a possible presidential candidate in 2004, said blind
conservative "ideology" is driving the Bush administration to pursue tax cuts for
wealthy Americans while vetoing "billions of dollars for domestic defense." (The
Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9245-2002Dec18.html
Democrats seek profile for wartime...Presidential hopefuls strive to alter image of
weakness on security. (CS Monitor) http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1219/p01s03-uspo.html
Sen. Harry Reid has secured commitments from 35 Democrats to succeed Sen. Thomas
Daschle if the South Dakota Democrat steps aside as Minority Leader to run for
president, a top staffer for the Nevada Democrat said. (Roll Call)
http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/2002/12/news1219a.html
Dodd, who's also considering a run for the presidency, challenged Daschle for party
leader in 1994, but lost by one vote. Democrats say Dodd is surveying members to see
if he would have enough support to defeat Reid. (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9046-2002Dec18.html
Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Thursday he will tell the Security Council
that there is "not much" new information about Iraq's weapons programs in its
12,000-page declaration (AP)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20021219/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iraq_declaration
The Bush administration is denouncing gaps, omissions and other major troubles with
the Iraqi weapons declaration, setting the United States on a course to possible war
with Saddam Hussein early next year. (AP)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=544&ncid=703&e=1&u=/ap/20021219/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq
The Bush administration has set the last week in January as the make-or-break point in
the long standoff with Iraq, and is increasingly confident that by then it will have
marshaled the evidence to convince the U.N. Security Council that Iraq is in violation
of a U.N. resolution passed last month and to call for the use of force, officials
said yesterday. (The Washington Post)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9422-2002Dec18.html
'Scorched Earth' Plans in Iraq Cited...Officials Also Warn Germ War Possible (The
Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8632-2002Dec18.html
Projection on Fall Of Hussein Disputed...Ground Forces Chiefs, Pentagon at Odds (The
Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4096-2002Dec17.html
Pakistan sting nets al-Qaida suspects...Police say 2 Americans, 1 Canadian among 9
detained (MSNBC) http://www.msnbc.com/news/849587.asp?0cv=CA01
Gertz: The Pentagon is planning to build a second missile-defense interceptor system
near the East Coast or in Europe to counter missile threats from the Middle East, Bush
administration officials said yesterday.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021219-86065308.htm
Babs on board with Kerry? According to La Streisand's cronies, the ever politically
minded diva (love that about the broad) is, thus far, leaning toward Sen. John Kerry
of Massachusetts. That's in regards to unseating Dubya in 2004, 'course. (E! online)
http://www.eonline.com/Gossip/Awful/cauth/Archive2002/021219f.html
There was another "Sopranos" finale yesterday in a Manhattan courtroom, where a judge
whacked James Gandolfini's marriage. (NY Post)
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/65055.htm
Opinion/Editorial
Kristol: Our Coy Republicans
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9637-2002Dec18.html
A majority decision....Neither Sen. Don Nickles nor Sen. Bill Frist -- the men most
frequently mentioned as potential replacements for Trent Lott, have what it takes to
be the ideal GOP Senate majority leader, writes Slate's Chris Suellentrop.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/849321.asp
Limbaugh: It's about a lot more than Lott...The ever-escalating Lott imbroglio has
very little to do with Senator Lott anymore and everything to do with demonizing
Republicans as a class.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/davidlimbaugh/dl20021219.shtml
Fund's Diary: A Tale of Two Bubbas...What do Trent Lott and Bill Clinton have in
common? Not enough for Lott to survive.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110002790
Novak: Chalk one up for taxpayers
http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/cst-edt-novak19.html
Sweet: Lott's damage will linger
http://www.suntimes.com/output/sweet/cst-edt-sweet19.html
Elder: Who says white men can't jump? After Trent Lott's latest -- and so far, fifth
-- apology, this time on Black Entertainment Television (BET), where he announced his
support for affirmative action, Lott may soon come out for reparations.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/le20021219.shtml
Will: Lott's damage will linger whether he stays or goes
http://www.suntimes.com/output/will/cst-edt-geo19.html
The Wall Street Journal: Saddam's Burden of Proof...We don't need a "smoking gun."
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110002793
Doonesbury http://www.ucomics.com/doonesbury/
Mallard Fillmore http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/fun/mallard.asp
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