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American Morning
Fallout Continues Over Lott Comments
Aired December 13, 2002 - 09:18 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the fallout continues again today over those racially insensitive remarks by Senator Trent Lott. The president says, as of yesterday, they were offensive and wrong, but he does not want the Republican leader to step down.
Still, though, growing concern about the controversy, how it will affect Lott's ability to lead, what is the changing face in Washington now.
Jonathan Karl from Capitol Hill, John King is at the White House. Let's start on Capitol Hill, though, with Jonathan Karl -- when are we going to see Trent Lott, Jonathan? Any indication just yet?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the big question, and that is the one, as far as I know, nobody has an answer to. But Senator Lott has been taking calls from his colleagues here in the Senate who have had a direct message, many of them saying that he must get out and get out soon, publicly and very strongly address the concerns raised about his comments, and also about his record.
He's been getting that message for very influential senators privately, but also publicly. Olympia Snowe, who is a very critical moderate Republican up here said publicly Trent Lott must come out and address this, and also Senator John McCain says Lott should hold a full-blown press conference to address these concerns.
HEMMER: Jonathan, thank you. To the White House right now, and John King. We heard the president's strong words yesterday, but did not go so far as to ask him to step away from the Senate majority position that he will assume again in January. Why not then, the words are so strong, why not carry it to the next step -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, White House officials believe Senator Lott can survive, and their line here is that people make mistakes and he should have an opportunity to correct the public record and to state his views on civil rights to echo John Karl. Here at the White House, privately, they are urging Senator Lott to come out, if not this weekend, by Monday at the latest and do just that.
The president waited a week, and he is under criticism from some Democrats for taking a week to rebuke Senator Lott. White House officials said the president has been busy doing other things, like Iraq, like North Korea, but they also can see behind the scenes here the President decided to speak out because there was beginning to be a concern that this could cause collateral damage, if you will, on the entire Republican Party. The president, yesterday, when he delivered that strong rebuke, was in an audience, a great number of African-Americans on hand. Aides say the president decided yesterday morning he had no -- no choice but to speak out, but they are saying they believe Senator Lott can survive. The president spoke to him last night, but they say Senator Lott, just like his colleagues on Capitol Hill are saying, must come out publicly and must come out soon.
HEMMER: John, thanks. John King at the White House. Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill. More now on the controversy with our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield in L.A. this morning. Up early, Jeff? Good morning to you.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: You bet.
HEMMER: Listen, this is certainly not the first politician to put foot firmly inside mouth. Why do you think this is sticking right now a week later?
GREENFIELD: Two reasons. One, I think, is because there were other comments and political actions. I mean, Robert Byrd once talked about "white Negroes," only he didn't use the word "Negro." Senator Hollings once talked about African leaders eating each other in the past.
In this case, as people looked at the record, they saw that Lott had said almost the same thing about Thurmond's potential presidency 20 years before. Here is Senator Hollings who had one slip of the tongue.
We saw the fact that he had -- we were reminded of the fact that he had been speaking before a group -- a white supremacist group, the heir to the infamous White Citizens Council.
And even today in the "Washington Post," a piece about a civil rights record that is unlike Thurmond's, after blacks got the right to vote, pretty -- pretty unsympathetic.
The second thing I think that is important, I have a rule in politics, it's always what your own man says. We know that Democrats are going to bash Lott. The fact is that conservatives, the "National Review," the "Weekly Standard," conservative columnists like Charles Krauthammer, Peggy Noonan, all of them are harshly critical of Lott, and you had conservative Republican Congresswoman Anne Northup of Kentucky just about suggesting he step down. So I think those two things are what is going on.
HEMMER: Well, John King at the White House was saying, you heard his report, they are not going to push any further, think he can survive. Does the White House position change at some point, or is this set in stone for now?
GREENFIELD: This is interesting. Obviously -- I shouldn't say obviously. The president did not come out and say he should step down, but that remark yesterday, the comments of the president, were extraordinarily tough for a president of one party on the incoming majority leader of his own party.
And I think what this means is that it's -- it's not exactly a trial balloon, but it's a finger in the wind, to use another mixed metaphor. It is a way of saying, let's see what happens over the next few days.
Are there going to be moderate and liberal Republicans, like Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, let's say, who are going to say, I'm just not comfortable voting for a majority leader who, apparently, unlike Thurmond and a lot of other Southerners, isn't comfortable with the civil rights revolution.
So I think that is what the president was doing. Remember, this president has been unusually determined to try to break through and get some Republican support from African-Americans. He didn't do it in 2000. But that fact -- let's not talk about politics. The fact, and a lot of conservatives genuinely believe that there is no part of their agenda that is racial, that they believe that things like school choice and empowerment zones really benefit blacks. They may be wrong, but then to have the incoming majority Senate leader of the Senate speak in terms that are outdated a half century ago makes conservatives very uneasy both politically and, I think, on policy grounds.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff. Jeff Greenfield in L.A.
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 13, 2002 - 09:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the fallout continues again today over those racially insensitive remarks by Senator Trent Lott. The president says, as of yesterday, they were offensive and wrong, but he does not want the Republican leader to step down.
Still, though, growing concern about the controversy, how it will affect Lott's ability to lead, what is the changing face in Washington now.
Jonathan Karl from Capitol Hill, John King is at the White House. Let's start on Capitol Hill, though, with Jonathan Karl -- when are we going to see Trent Lott, Jonathan? Any indication just yet?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the big question, and that is the one, as far as I know, nobody has an answer to. But Senator Lott has been taking calls from his colleagues here in the Senate who have had a direct message, many of them saying that he must get out and get out soon, publicly and very strongly address the concerns raised about his comments, and also about his record.
He's been getting that message for very influential senators privately, but also publicly. Olympia Snowe, who is a very critical moderate Republican up here said publicly Trent Lott must come out and address this, and also Senator John McCain says Lott should hold a full-blown press conference to address these concerns.
HEMMER: Jonathan, thank you. To the White House right now, and John King. We heard the president's strong words yesterday, but did not go so far as to ask him to step away from the Senate majority position that he will assume again in January. Why not then, the words are so strong, why not carry it to the next step -- John.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, White House officials believe Senator Lott can survive, and their line here is that people make mistakes and he should have an opportunity to correct the public record and to state his views on civil rights to echo John Karl. Here at the White House, privately, they are urging Senator Lott to come out, if not this weekend, by Monday at the latest and do just that.
The president waited a week, and he is under criticism from some Democrats for taking a week to rebuke Senator Lott. White House officials said the president has been busy doing other things, like Iraq, like North Korea, but they also can see behind the scenes here the President decided to speak out because there was beginning to be a concern that this could cause collateral damage, if you will, on the entire Republican Party. The president, yesterday, when he delivered that strong rebuke, was in an audience, a great number of African-Americans on hand. Aides say the president decided yesterday morning he had no -- no choice but to speak out, but they are saying they believe Senator Lott can survive. The president spoke to him last night, but they say Senator Lott, just like his colleagues on Capitol Hill are saying, must come out publicly and must come out soon.
HEMMER: John, thanks. John King at the White House. Jonathan Karl on Capitol Hill. More now on the controversy with our senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield in L.A. this morning. Up early, Jeff? Good morning to you.
JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: You bet.
HEMMER: Listen, this is certainly not the first politician to put foot firmly inside mouth. Why do you think this is sticking right now a week later?
GREENFIELD: Two reasons. One, I think, is because there were other comments and political actions. I mean, Robert Byrd once talked about "white Negroes," only he didn't use the word "Negro." Senator Hollings once talked about African leaders eating each other in the past.
In this case, as people looked at the record, they saw that Lott had said almost the same thing about Thurmond's potential presidency 20 years before. Here is Senator Hollings who had one slip of the tongue.
We saw the fact that he had -- we were reminded of the fact that he had been speaking before a group -- a white supremacist group, the heir to the infamous White Citizens Council.
And even today in the "Washington Post," a piece about a civil rights record that is unlike Thurmond's, after blacks got the right to vote, pretty -- pretty unsympathetic.
The second thing I think that is important, I have a rule in politics, it's always what your own man says. We know that Democrats are going to bash Lott. The fact is that conservatives, the "National Review," the "Weekly Standard," conservative columnists like Charles Krauthammer, Peggy Noonan, all of them are harshly critical of Lott, and you had conservative Republican Congresswoman Anne Northup of Kentucky just about suggesting he step down. So I think those two things are what is going on.
HEMMER: Well, John King at the White House was saying, you heard his report, they are not going to push any further, think he can survive. Does the White House position change at some point, or is this set in stone for now?
GREENFIELD: This is interesting. Obviously -- I shouldn't say obviously. The president did not come out and say he should step down, but that remark yesterday, the comments of the president, were extraordinarily tough for a president of one party on the incoming majority leader of his own party.
And I think what this means is that it's -- it's not exactly a trial balloon, but it's a finger in the wind, to use another mixed metaphor. It is a way of saying, let's see what happens over the next few days.
Are there going to be moderate and liberal Republicans, like Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, let's say, who are going to say, I'm just not comfortable voting for a majority leader who, apparently, unlike Thurmond and a lot of other Southerners, isn't comfortable with the civil rights revolution.
So I think that is what the president was doing. Remember, this president has been unusually determined to try to break through and get some Republican support from African-Americans. He didn't do it in 2000. But that fact -- let's not talk about politics. The fact, and a lot of conservatives genuinely believe that there is no part of their agenda that is racial, that they believe that things like school choice and empowerment zones really benefit blacks. They may be wrong, but then to have the incoming majority Senate leader of the Senate speak in terms that are outdated a half century ago makes conservatives very uneasy both politically and, I think, on policy grounds.
HEMMER: Thank you, Jeff. Jeff Greenfield in L.A.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
