NICKLES IS A-OK
Re: John Corry Lott
Without the Frenzy and Mary Murray’s “Replacements” letter in
Reader Mail’s Hearing
and Listening:
As an Oklahoman and a conservative Republican, I’m baffled by
Mary Murray’s slap at our senior Senator, Don Nickles, and John
Corry’s claim that he displays “naked ambition.” While it’s true
that Oklahoma is not as electorally important as Texas or Tennessee
— only 7 electoral votes, which haven’t gone to a Democrat since
1964 — I don’t see the connection between presidential electoral
calculation and who should lead our party in the Senate.
Conviction, character, backbone, and political skill are what is
needed.
It’s true that Nickles didn’t have a long and distinguished
pre-Senate career, but that’s because he was elected at age 31 in
1980, defeating better-financed candidates in the primary through a
strong conservative Christian grass-roots network. Before the
Senate he served briefly in the State Senate and ran his family’s
business. During his 22 years in the Senate, he has consistently
worked for the implementation of the conservative agenda. He is not
a publicity seeker. He is not afraid to be on the losing end of an
80-20 vote if it’s a matter of conscience.
I see nothing ambitious in Don Nickles’ call for reconsidering
who should be Majority Leader. He’s been around the Senate long
enough to know that the “Club” won’t reward his “treason.” His move
was a risky one that could even cost him his new role as Budget
Committee chairman. Lott’s allies (including his toesucking
political consultant) will dig up anything they can to trash him
for his bravery. Having watched his career for over two decades, I
believe Don Nickles spoke as he did because he felt it needed to be
done. Forty-nine senators might have been ready to dump Lott, but
until someone spoke out, nothing was going to happen. His courage
marks him as someone who could be a great Majority Leader, but it’s
more likely that he merely opened the door for someone else,
someone who will cautiously straddle the fence over the next three
weeks.
As for Mr. Lott, it’s bad enough to have a backbench Republican
Senator (Mr. McCain) who got caught, and who is willing to trash
the Constitution in order to redeem himself in the eyes of the
Left. We don’t need a Majority Leader who will use his considerable
power for the same selfish ends.
— Michael Bates
Tulsa, OK
INDIVIDUAL BLESSINGS
Re: Mark Goldblatt’s A
Wake Up Call:
Sir, that was an excellent article on the futility of
Republicans trying to woo black voters. I’d love to interview you
my radio program here in Jackson, Mississippi. I am Republican who
happens to be black. I have refused to participate in minority
outreach for just the same reasons you outlined in your article. If
the people don’t agree with our party philosophy then we don’t need
them. If you are available please be in touch. If not, may God
continue bless you real good!
— Kim Wade
News talk 1180 am and 103.9 fm.
CHEERS AND JEERS
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s Mean
and Ignoble:
R. Emmett Tyrrell calls the Trent Lott affair a “media feeding
frenzy” but it’s really more accurate to call them a nasty swarm of
buzzards or vultures picking a dead carcass clean. No more, no
less. When the bones are devoid of meat, the swarm picks up and
moves on towards its next victim, and then descends unmercilessly
again. The buzzards and their vulture friends pat themselves on the
back at cocktail parties and in their news columns for being
morally superior to the victim, and for that keen ability to not
only pompously call another a “racist”, but to know that the
accused has been a racist all his life. It’s contemptible and
deeply disgusting, but that’s what passes for a free press these
days (excepting a few contributors). That’s why this week the
buzzards need the reward of Enemy of the Week.
— John Patterson
Ridgewood, NJ
I remember being disoriented in 1984 after Geraldine Ferraro was
nominated and something that seems to have been the opposite side
of the media frenzy (described by R. Emmett Tyrrell) was operating.
Despite substantial questions concerning her husband’s alleged
unsavory business connections, the mainstream media appeared to
conclude that it would be unseemly to ask the questions,
pronouncing an embargo that was honored during the rest of the
campaign — the embargo was effective from her press conference in
which she released personal tax returns but not those of her
husband’s business’s. (When a reporter pointed to the lack of full
disclosure, another quieted him, saying she had done enough.) Never
since have believed naively that the real facts are relevant in
politics — if anyone disagrees ask the Clintons.
— J. R. Wheatley
As I have contemplated Trent Lott’s now-famous nostalgic remarks
about the glories of the old segregated South, my thoughts have
turned to a number of questions. Question number one is, how could
one of our best-known politicians, veteran of decades of
negotiating political minefields, say something in public which is
so incredibly stupid and so potentially damaging to his career?
Then I remembered something. I thought I had read somewhere that
Lott was a cheerleader at Ole Miss. If so, this would explain
everything.
I did a little research and it’s true, Lott was a cheerleader
when he was an undergraduate at the University of Mississippi. The
CNN All Politics website adds helpfully that Lott was a “male
cheerleader.” That’s good to know. With all the other accusations
about Lott’s past, at least we know he wasn’t engaged in
cross-dressing while he was leading cheers for the fightin’
Rebels.
Cheerleading, as we know, is above all a mindless activity. Good
cheerleading requires the ability to turn off totally one’s
inhibitions and capacity for deep thought and submerge yourself
completely in the moment. People who pride themselves on keeping
their analytical faculties operating at all times don’t make good
cheerleaders. So here was Lott at the banquet for Strom Thurmond,
enthusiastically stepping back into his cheerleader mode and, like
a good cheerleader, turning off his brain and his inhibitions. The
rest is history.
In all seriousness, Lott has got to go as majority leader, now
more than ever. But then I was all for replacing him as Senate
Republican leader years ago.
— John Combellick
Oshkosh, WI
ILL PORK
Re: The Washington Prowler’s More
Senate Trouble: Illinois’ Looming Rematch:
These are tough times for Illinois Republicans. Governor George
Ryan has been a disgrace, at best. His buddy, Dennis Hastert, like
George Ryan, appears to be taking orders from Mayor Daley and the
Chicago Democrats. To most of us, Hastert isn’t much different from
Dan Rostenkowski — operating under the assumption that good
government is all about pork, pork, and more pork. Peter Fitzgerald
might be the only honest politician in Illinois and a
conservative’s only hope. He needs to start his own grass-roots
organization pronto!
— Jack Hughes
Chicago, IL
As a conservative living in Illinois, (state mottoes: “Daley for
Mayor Everywhere”; “Even the Dead Vote Here”), I would like to add
to your article on Peter Fitzgerald. I hate to break it to his
staff, but it’s not true that “he’s that popular.” The
rural/suburban areas voted overwhelmingly for Bush in 2000; the
“blue” parts of the map were all Chicago-machine controlled areas.
What we need is not another term with a moderate
Republican, but an inspired and inspiring conservative. Peter
Fitzgerald’s record is appallingly poor on conservative issues such
as guns and hunting rights, crime and taxes. The only thing I can
agree with is that “he is practically invisible” on conservative
issues and that he should at least have to deal with a Republican
challenge in the primary. This state needs a conservative who will
strongly challenge the machine politicians who are currently in
charge. Unless we want Peter Fitzgerald, RINO, to be “the future of
the party,” we will need the help of the national Republican Party
to succeed.
— Sally Haney
Cary, IL
ON CLONE
Re: George Neumayr’s Stanford’s
Cult of the Stong:
I try to keep up with this topic but admit that hazy public
pronouncements from the research establishment often befuddle
me.
But, is “plunipotent” a misprint or is there a new specialized
word I need to add to my cloning vocabulary?
— Bob Reynolds
The Editor replies: My fault. The
correct term is “pluripotent.” The misspelling has been
corrected.
THE REAL LESTER
Re: Patrick J. Michaels’ We
Decide, We Report:
Please advise the author that Lester Brown is an Agricultural
Economist, not an Agronomist.
I am an Agronomist. I have a friend who is an Agricultural
Economist. Believe you me, there is quite a difference between the
two fields of study!
Otherwise, the article was well written and the information in
it should be more widely reported than it currently is.
Yours truly,
— Rush E. McCarty
U.K. PHARISEES AND SUVS
Re: Ben Stein’s Roadway
Pharisees:
Ben Stein — totally right. Someone give that man a cash bonus!
I’ve been waiting for someone to say what he says, specifically the
paragraph pasted below.* It’s the same thing with Kyoto: America,
the most self-consciously clean and technologically advanced, gets
kicked in the teeth while backwards and careless polluters get a
free pass. My father spent a month in China on business two years
ago, and had respiratory troubles and red eyes the whole time. In
England where I live the government is anti-car on account of
pollution, accidents and god knows what, but if the car tax and
other taxes were not so enormous, English drivers might have more
money with which to buy newer, safer, cleaner cars. In fact, the
yearly tax on company cars actually rewards companies whose cars
are four years old or older.
— Amanda Bernsen
*And by the way, why are these ads about large cars and air
quality appearing in magazines and newspapers in the United States?
This is where we have strict air pollution standards for cars and
trucks. This is where we have strict emission laws for factories
and utilities. What is this group doing about the polluters in
India and Pakistan and China who have produced the noxious “brown
cloud” that occupies much of Asia and whose effluence reaches and
destroys American forests and lungs as pollution and acid rain?
Shouldn’t they really be going after people who burn totally
unscrubbed coal, i.e., Chinese and Indians, instead of the
housewife with her catalytic converter and state of the art
anti-pollution equipment on her Pontiac Aztec?
DESERT SANDS
Re: Jackie Mason & Raoul Felder’s Stop
the Killing:
Mason and Felder: “Where would the Arabs go?”
Answer: There’s lots of empty land in Saudi-owned Arabia. They
can make the desert bloom, as the Jews did in Israel.
— unsigned
