Monday, December 16, 2002

Dick Morris Doesn't Get it

Dick Morris has a column in today's New York Post defending Trent Lott. Morris claims that during his time in Washington he got to know Lott quite well, and that "the man doesn't have a racist bone in his body." He gives examples of Lott voting in ways that convincingly contradict claims of racism, and backs this up by pointing out that the African American community that knows him best, i.e., black voters in Mississippi, vote for him in numbers that amount to a ringing endorsement (for a Republican, anyway) -- approximately one out of three.

Morris appears to be missing the painfully obvious point that Lott's alleged racism isn't the issue -- an incredible lapse for man that, with some justification, prides himself on his hard-headed political cynicism. Does anyone really think that the Democrats calling for Lott's head actually care whether or not he's a racist? Come on...

The issue here is that Lott is a national Republican leader, and he has just hung a leaden albatross around the neck of the party he's supposed to serve. How can Republicans claim to be a party of inclusion if their Senate leader makes a gallingly insensitive comment and they just look the other way? They can't -- not credibly, anyway.

Lott may well not be a racist; it's not as if he got busted wearing a white sheet. He was praising an old man at his cenntenial birthday celebration. But Washington being what it is, he has possibly taken the first step towards undoing the Republican victory of November. This is unforgivable in a party leader. Trent Lott has never been a significant asset for American conservatism, last week he made himself a burdensome liability.

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