Sen. Lott becomes first GOP senator to question Rove's employment

[sabra]

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Sen._Lott_becomes_first_GOP_senator_1101.html

Sen. Lott becomes first GOP senator to question Rove's employment

Filed by RAW STORY

Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) became the first Republican senator to publicly question whether senior Bush advisor Karl Rove should stay at the White House, carefully making the argument that political advisers are not ideal for policy positions, RAW STORY has learned.

Lott's statement was made on Chris Matthews' "Hardball."

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Is he good for American politics? Should he stay at the White House?

SEN. LOTT: Well, the question is that you asked, is it good for American politics? Look, he has been very successful, very effective in the political arena. The question is should he be the deputy chief of staff under the current circumstances? I don't know all that's going on, so I can't make that final conclusion. But, you know, how many times has the top political person become also the top policy advisor? Maybe you can make that transition, but it's a real challenge, and I think they have to -- I do think they need to look at bringing in some more people, you know, old gray beards that have been around this town for a while, help them out a little bit at the White House.

as usual RawStory had it first, just hit Reuters:

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-11-02T013422Z_01_FOR205461_RTRUKOC_0_US-BUSH-LEAK.xml&archived=False

Some conservatives question Rove's future

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Breaking with the White House and fellow conservatives, Republican Sen. Trent Lott and the head of the Cato Institute questioned on Tuesday whether top White House adviser Karl Rove, who remains in legal jeopardy in a CIA-leak probe, should keep his policy-making job.

....

Lott of Mississippi and William Niskanen of the libertarian Cato Institute both echoed Democratic calls for a White House shake-up.

"He (Rove) has been very successful, very effective in the political arena. The question is, should he be the deputy chief of staff for policy under the current circumstances?" Lott told MSNBC's "Hardball."

....

Niskanen, who served as a top economic adviser to former President Ronald Reagan, said, "Bush is going to have to sacrifice people who have worked with him to regain some initiative."

[Burried News]

1. Payback for the Strom Thurmond abandonment?

Maybe the Mississippi base is a little PO'd at the hurricane incompetence. Trent wouldn't do this if he didn't think his people are behind him.

[Bok_Tukalo]

4. I agree that Lott may not be the best of friends with Rove

because of the Thurmond Shiv the WH gave him.

[saigon68]

26. HERE'S HIS GOOD BUDDY CHALABI

[LynneSin]

8. Lott has nothing to lose and everything to gain!!

The Bush Regime and Repukes abandoned him after the Strom comment (not that I can blame them but trust me - they all feel the same way). Lott is finally retiring so what does he have to lose other than finally having a revelation that maybe his brand of politics was wrong

[calimary]

27. Keep this in mind about the "elephant party:" elephants never forget.

Lott is probably STILL nursing a grudge over being kicked out of the Senate leadership, especially since he's seeing his replacement, the hapless bill frist, make blunder after blunder.

Lott may not act on anything, but you BETTER BELIEVE he hasn't forgotten how the powers that be did NOT stick by him when he was in political trouble. He also has an ego. A BIG one. And any bruises on a big ego aren't gonna be little.

[leesa]

22. Yup. And I'll bet Lott's loving every minute of Turdblossom's demise.

[ender]

2. damn...

not like lott was looking to stab bush in the back or anything... not like lott was hung out to dry for bush's boy frist to take over...

[Moloch]

3. Lott is pissed.

He said what a lot/most of the GOP thinks about Strom Thurmond/racism and his nobody in Shrub's white house and very few in his party came to his aid. I'm not suprised at all by this.

[UrbScotty]

5. Wiould things have been better if Strom Thurmond were Prez right now?

Just asking.

[ClintonTyree]

16. Well, he'd be dead..........

that in itself is an improvement over what we have now. :shrug:

[Demeter]

17. Thanks for the Laugh! I needed It!

[Vinnie From Indy]

20. LOL! Beautiful!

n/t

[TommyO]

6. Now the question is...

what does Lott know that he would start turning on this Whitehouse publicly?

[Roland99]

7. Guess * won't be joining him on that new front porch after all!

[Sgent]

9. Lott will be re-elected

as long as he desires it. Nobody in the state of MS even stands a chance if Lott is running. Only if he were to not run do the D's stand a chance of picking up that seat.

There was some talk right after he lost the leadership post that he would step down, but that seems to have quited down. I imagine we will have Senator Lott around for a long time to come.

[sofa king]

10. I think he's fixin' to step back up.

In light of what went down just after Lott's statement, I have a feeling he's aiming for a comeback.

Like Dick Cheney, I think Lott is one of those jerks who desperately wants to be President but knows he's too much of a jerk to get there directly. His Senate seniority is #2, right behind Ted Stevens, who turns 82 in a couple of weeks.

If Stevens dies or is driven from his roost for being too liberal or too honest, Mr. Lott by tradition should be made President pro tempore, the #4 slot in line of succession to the Presidency.

Things ain't lookin' too good for George and Dick right now. And Dennis Hastert is a yes-man who might just refuse to step down as Speaker of the House. Trent Lott wants that cat-bird seat, real bad.

[Sgent]

24. Lott is not senior

Cochran (also from MS) has been in the Senate longer than Lott has been in politics. He has at least 8 years of seniority (1976 Senate for Cochran, 1982 House election for Lott).

Its not Seniority alone, its also power/leadership position.

[krkaufman]

11. Not bad, Trent.; and just 33 months after is was made obvious to the world

... in Ron Suskind's Esquire article, in January 2003.

I made these inquiries in part because last spring, when I spoke to White House chief of staff Andrew Card, he sounded an alarm about the unfettered rise of Rove in the wake of senior adviser Karen Hughes’s resignation: "I’ll need designees, people trusted by the president that I can elevate for various needs to balance against Karl. . . . They are going to have to really step up, but it won’t be easy. Karl is a formidable adversary."

One senior White House official told me that he’d be summarily fired if it were known we were talking. "But many of us feel it’s our duty—our obligation as Americans—to get the word out that, certainly in domestic policy, there has been almost no meaningful consideration of any real issues. It’s just kids on Big Wheels who talk politics and know nothing. It’s depressing. Domestic Policy Council meetings are a farce. This leaves shoot-from-the-hip political calculations—mostly from Karl’s shop—to triumph by default. No one balances Karl. Forget it. That was Andy’s cry for help."

January 1, 2003
Why Are These Men Laughing?
http://www.ronsuskind.com/newsite/articles/archives/000032.html

The Katrina response and everything else, past and what's to follow, were inevitable, given this Administration's obsessive focus on politics.

[joytomme]

12. Lott's Swat

You know what? Lott is such a rotten corrupt sleazy piece of work that I can't take any pleasure in his aiming a potshot at Rove.

If Lott had an honest bone in his body, if he ever had shown one ounce of integrity, I might view his questioning whether Rove can be effective as a step in the right direction. But the man is such a bag of crap that his trying to curry favor with the faction in his own party that is anti-Rove is just as galling as when he makes racist remarks and rants and raves against Democrats.

Joy Tomme
http://ratbangdiary.blogspot.com

[SonicPeace]

13. does he have a book out? he's been in the media a lot lately

It seems like Lott has been on TV and the radio a lot more often the last few weeks.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi SonicPeace!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Bridget Burke]

18. Battle of the Sleazes!

Just imagine Lott & Rove, stripped to their thongs, battling it out in a pit of mud.

Tickets would be sold. Lunches would be lost.

[Erika]

14. Lott's laughing his head off

Frist acted like a total bawlbaby today.

[WhiteTara]

15. I see pink pigs in the sky!

:kick:

[AnneD]

19. I would advise

Bush not to wander around the Senate, esp around March 15......et tu Brutus. I think we may be seeing many long knives coming out.

[madmark]

21. Yeah Lott is still pissed about losing his leadership position.

He was left for dead by his fellow reps, and has subsequently ended up emboldened. Don't be surprised to see more of these finger pokes from Lott towards the white housse and other rep leaders.

[wordpix]

23. Repukes are jumping from White House ship of state but they're rats just

the same.

I think Lott is distancing himself. He sees the WH falling and he'd like to be re-elected so he's now saying Rove shouldn't be there.

Note how stumbling and bumbling he was. A sign of someone trying to be diplomatic by finding the right words so as not to offend.

This is so interesting. WH is falling!