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CNN Live Saturday
Lott Addresses Residents of Mississippi
Aired December 14, 2002 - 17:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The controversy over recent remarks made by Senate Republican leader Trent Lott followed him home to Mississippi this weekend. At home, in Pascagoula, Lott again said he was sorry for remarks he says were insensitive. National correspondent Gary Tuchman says some of Lott's neighbors are taking him at his word, but many others are split over which of Lott's words they really want to believe. Hi, Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, hello to you. Behind us, a beautiful view of the Gulf of Mexico here on the Mississippi coastline. This is the view the Senate majority leader gets when he gets away from Washington and comes back home. His graceful white colonial is just behind us a couple of minutes here in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the town where he was raised.
Today, one day after his news conference, he's keeping a low profile, but we did talk to his wife Trisha off camera today, and with her eyes welling up with tears, she told us, quote: "This is a very difficult time for our family." She said, during the holidays, she will, quote, "not plan on watching TV or reading newspapers. We are going to enjoy our grandchildren." The Lotts do have three grandchildren.
After the news conference yesterday, it was not very hard at all to find local supporters and detractors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A message on a hotel marquis in Trent Lott's hometown, a sentiment shared in Pascagoula, Mississippi by many.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe what he was, what he was at the moment, he was trying to make a 100-year-old senator who he feels like is a father image to him feel good on his birthday.
TUCHMAN: But not a sentiment shared by all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he can't correct the wrong that he's done. It's no way.
TUCHMAN: Trent Lott's news conference was a poignant viewing in Pascagoula.
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: I apologize for opening old wounds and hurting many Americans who feel so deeply in this area. TUCHMAN: These are some of the people who feel so deeply in this area. The Progressive Club, a Pascagoula tavern with an all black clientele on the night of the news conference, where nobody thought their senator's apologizes had been genuine.
(on camera): What do you think he really means then? What do you think he's trying to do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put things back the way they were, the way they were back during the time of segregation. I think that's what he really wants. The statement he made is self-evident. If we had voted this way during this time we wouldn't have the problems we have now.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The Jazz Club, only a few blocks away, an all white clientele in this evening, a place where the sentiment is 180 degrees different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think everything is blowed quite out of proportion.
TUCHMAN: Richard Lawrence has known Trent Lott since they were both in first grade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We graduated in 1959 from Pascagoula High School. He went to Old Miss, I went to LSU.
TUCHMAN: Lawrence says he has complete and utter faith in what his old friend says and does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not racist. Trent is just not that kind of person. He never has been, never will be.
TUCHMAN: But at the Progressive Club, the customers think the Senate majority leader has been anything but progressive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He made a bad mistake. But what's in you will come out of you and it's been in him so it came out.
TUCHMAN: Two taverns only a three minute drive apart. But when it concerns the actions of their senator, they're in different worlds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: Trent Lott said at the news conference at a hotel here in Pascagoula yesterday he will not resign, he hasn't considered resigning, but even his most vocal supporters here in Pascagoula know he's still in a vulnerable position. Fredricka, back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right, Gary, thank you very much from Pascagoula.
More on the controversy that continues to swirl around Trent Lott. When he apologized on Friday, Lott also said his comments didn't make him any less of a leader. How has his words influenced support on the Hill or even from the White House? CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider has some thoughts on that. Bill, good to see you. WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Fredricka, nice to see you.
WHITFIELD: Well, I understand that yesterday about 20 senators had a conference call, of course, at issue -- Trent Lott. Most agree that he should stay on, but is it the case that if the Democrats keep this issue alive, then all of that support certainly might change?
SCHNEIDER: Well, there's a big difference here now between Democrats and Republicans. I believe those 20 senators were mostly -- entirely his Republican colleagues.
WHITFIELD: Correct.
SCHNEIDER: That's important because they are the ones, they are the ones who are voting to keep him as their leader. He is the leader of the Republican majority. It's their confidence he has to sustain.
I believe Democrats now are actually considering the vote -- bringing up a vote to censure Trent Lott in the Senate, but of course, that can't pass with the opposition of the Republican majority. It's the Republicans here who matter.
WHITFIELD: And isn't it also an opinion that matters President Bush's? It's been said, according to "The Washington Post," it was reported that some anonymous White House insiders have said that President Bush has never really liked Trent Lott, and even though he has, of course, very quickly admonished the words, that he is also showing some separation between he and the relationship of Trent Lott and in no way, shape, or form does he want those sentiments to rub off on the White House?
SCHNEIDER: Well, the president was unusually harsh in his rebuke of Senator Lott when he was in Philadelphia on Thursday. He said recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our county. He said that in a tone that was sharp and harsh. He had nothing, in fact, good to say about Senator Lott, although later in the day, he allowed his press secretary to say that the president was not calling for Lott to resign his leadership position.
The fact is, the president and the majority leader in the Senate are the face of the Republican Party. They're the two highest elected Republican officials in the country. And Republican senators have to ask themselves, is this the face of the Republican Party we want to present? And here, it's not simply a matter of the remarks that the senator made. He apologized for them, he said they were a grievous mistake, but what's come out in the past week is this entirety of Senator Lott's record. His opposition to the Martin Luther King holiday, the fact that he resisted the integration of his fraternity when he was in college, his support for Bob Jones University's racially discriminatory policies, his participation in the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group that has racist associations.
Twice he has endorsed the campaign of Strom Thurmond as a segregationist. His support for Jefferson Davis, the leader of the Confederacy, to become an American citizen, his opposition to the extension of a civil rights bill -- all those things need explaining.
WHITFIELD: And this certainly could be, indeed, a major disruption as they return after the holidays to continue their term. Is it also the thought, though, however, if Trent Lott were to be forced to step down, certainly we're going back to a major fight over the balance of power?
SCHNEIDER: Well, now, let's -- we'll take it one step at a time. If he decides to step down or if he is challenged for the leadership of his caucus, there are other senators, at least three whose names have been circulating -- Don Nickles of Oklahoma, Bill Frist of Tennessee, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. There are a number of other senators who may choose to challenge him, and I think it's appropriate in this case so that the Republican majority can decide openly and in a vote who they want the face of the Republican majority to be.
There should be an open race, in which they have to consider whether Trent Lott or someone else best represents what they believe and what they stand for. That would take place in early January. Once that takes place, then of course, Trent Lott is still a senator. He's indicated no intention of stepping down as senator. The consequences of that would be far more serious, because if he were to leave his job as senator, then it's a Democratic governor in Mississippi who would appoint his successor, and I don't think he's going to do that.
WHITFIELD: All right, Bill Schneider, thanks very much. Good to see you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 14, 2002 - 17:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The controversy over recent remarks made by Senate Republican leader Trent Lott followed him home to Mississippi this weekend. At home, in Pascagoula, Lott again said he was sorry for remarks he says were insensitive. National correspondent Gary Tuchman says some of Lott's neighbors are taking him at his word, but many others are split over which of Lott's words they really want to believe. Hi, Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, hello to you. Behind us, a beautiful view of the Gulf of Mexico here on the Mississippi coastline. This is the view the Senate majority leader gets when he gets away from Washington and comes back home. His graceful white colonial is just behind us a couple of minutes here in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the town where he was raised.
Today, one day after his news conference, he's keeping a low profile, but we did talk to his wife Trisha off camera today, and with her eyes welling up with tears, she told us, quote: "This is a very difficult time for our family." She said, during the holidays, she will, quote, "not plan on watching TV or reading newspapers. We are going to enjoy our grandchildren." The Lotts do have three grandchildren.
After the news conference yesterday, it was not very hard at all to find local supporters and detractors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): A message on a hotel marquis in Trent Lott's hometown, a sentiment shared in Pascagoula, Mississippi by many.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe what he was, what he was at the moment, he was trying to make a 100-year-old senator who he feels like is a father image to him feel good on his birthday.
TUCHMAN: But not a sentiment shared by all.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he can't correct the wrong that he's done. It's no way.
TUCHMAN: Trent Lott's news conference was a poignant viewing in Pascagoula.
SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: I apologize for opening old wounds and hurting many Americans who feel so deeply in this area. TUCHMAN: These are some of the people who feel so deeply in this area. The Progressive Club, a Pascagoula tavern with an all black clientele on the night of the news conference, where nobody thought their senator's apologizes had been genuine.
(on camera): What do you think he really means then? What do you think he's trying to do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put things back the way they were, the way they were back during the time of segregation. I think that's what he really wants. The statement he made is self-evident. If we had voted this way during this time we wouldn't have the problems we have now.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): The Jazz Club, only a few blocks away, an all white clientele in this evening, a place where the sentiment is 180 degrees different.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think everything is blowed quite out of proportion.
TUCHMAN: Richard Lawrence has known Trent Lott since they were both in first grade.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We graduated in 1959 from Pascagoula High School. He went to Old Miss, I went to LSU.
TUCHMAN: Lawrence says he has complete and utter faith in what his old friend says and does.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not racist. Trent is just not that kind of person. He never has been, never will be.
TUCHMAN: But at the Progressive Club, the customers think the Senate majority leader has been anything but progressive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He made a bad mistake. But what's in you will come out of you and it's been in him so it came out.
TUCHMAN: Two taverns only a three minute drive apart. But when it concerns the actions of their senator, they're in different worlds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: Trent Lott said at the news conference at a hotel here in Pascagoula yesterday he will not resign, he hasn't considered resigning, but even his most vocal supporters here in Pascagoula know he's still in a vulnerable position. Fredricka, back to you.
WHITFIELD: All right, Gary, thank you very much from Pascagoula.
More on the controversy that continues to swirl around Trent Lott. When he apologized on Friday, Lott also said his comments didn't make him any less of a leader. How has his words influenced support on the Hill or even from the White House? CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider has some thoughts on that. Bill, good to see you. WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Fredricka, nice to see you.
WHITFIELD: Well, I understand that yesterday about 20 senators had a conference call, of course, at issue -- Trent Lott. Most agree that he should stay on, but is it the case that if the Democrats keep this issue alive, then all of that support certainly might change?
SCHNEIDER: Well, there's a big difference here now between Democrats and Republicans. I believe those 20 senators were mostly -- entirely his Republican colleagues.
WHITFIELD: Correct.
SCHNEIDER: That's important because they are the ones, they are the ones who are voting to keep him as their leader. He is the leader of the Republican majority. It's their confidence he has to sustain.
I believe Democrats now are actually considering the vote -- bringing up a vote to censure Trent Lott in the Senate, but of course, that can't pass with the opposition of the Republican majority. It's the Republicans here who matter.
WHITFIELD: And isn't it also an opinion that matters President Bush's? It's been said, according to "The Washington Post," it was reported that some anonymous White House insiders have said that President Bush has never really liked Trent Lott, and even though he has, of course, very quickly admonished the words, that he is also showing some separation between he and the relationship of Trent Lott and in no way, shape, or form does he want those sentiments to rub off on the White House?
SCHNEIDER: Well, the president was unusually harsh in his rebuke of Senator Lott when he was in Philadelphia on Thursday. He said recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our county. He said that in a tone that was sharp and harsh. He had nothing, in fact, good to say about Senator Lott, although later in the day, he allowed his press secretary to say that the president was not calling for Lott to resign his leadership position.
The fact is, the president and the majority leader in the Senate are the face of the Republican Party. They're the two highest elected Republican officials in the country. And Republican senators have to ask themselves, is this the face of the Republican Party we want to present? And here, it's not simply a matter of the remarks that the senator made. He apologized for them, he said they were a grievous mistake, but what's come out in the past week is this entirety of Senator Lott's record. His opposition to the Martin Luther King holiday, the fact that he resisted the integration of his fraternity when he was in college, his support for Bob Jones University's racially discriminatory policies, his participation in the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group that has racist associations.
Twice he has endorsed the campaign of Strom Thurmond as a segregationist. His support for Jefferson Davis, the leader of the Confederacy, to become an American citizen, his opposition to the extension of a civil rights bill -- all those things need explaining.
WHITFIELD: And this certainly could be, indeed, a major disruption as they return after the holidays to continue their term. Is it also the thought, though, however, if Trent Lott were to be forced to step down, certainly we're going back to a major fight over the balance of power?
SCHNEIDER: Well, now, let's -- we'll take it one step at a time. If he decides to step down or if he is challenged for the leadership of his caucus, there are other senators, at least three whose names have been circulating -- Don Nickles of Oklahoma, Bill Frist of Tennessee, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. There are a number of other senators who may choose to challenge him, and I think it's appropriate in this case so that the Republican majority can decide openly and in a vote who they want the face of the Republican majority to be.
There should be an open race, in which they have to consider whether Trent Lott or someone else best represents what they believe and what they stand for. That would take place in early January. Once that takes place, then of course, Trent Lott is still a senator. He's indicated no intention of stepping down as senator. The consequences of that would be far more serious, because if he were to leave his job as senator, then it's a Democratic governor in Mississippi who would appoint his successor, and I don't think he's going to do that.
WHITFIELD: All right, Bill Schneider, thanks very much. Good to see you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
