Thread: Lott Feeling Backlash Over Radio Salvo On Immigration Bill

June 20, 2007, 10:14PM

Lott feeling backlash over radio salvo on immigration bill


By JONATHAN WEISMAN and SHAILAGH MURRAY
Washington Post

It was a casual shot across the bow, a comment last week from Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott: Advocates of an immigration overhaul would have to "deal" with talk-radio hosts who he said don't know what is in the legislation but want to kill it nonetheless.

The return fire to that passing comment has been withering, as some of the nation's most prominent conservative talkers turn on a man they once defended adamantly.

Michael Savage, who hosts The Savage Nation, accused Lott of dispatching Nazi storm troopers against his critics. A National Review blogger tagged the senator "Vacant Lott." Conservative talker Hugh Hewitt warned that Lott, R-Miss., would only "further motivate the base because to the reality of a bad bill and past insults is now added a genuine note of dislike" for those conservatives.

"When I hear a United States senator say that what I do for a living is a 'problem' that the government has to 'deal with,' you can interpret it any number of ways," Rush Limbaugh said on the air. "He's either saying, 'Well, we're going to have to come up with our own ways to overcome them' or 'We're going to just have to wipe them out.' "

"When they're with you, it's great," Lott said this week. "When they're not, it's not good."

Democrats have long borne such tongue-whippings. But now conservative Republicans are feeling the lash as well.

"I've had my phones jammed for three weeks. Yesterday I had three people answering them continuously all day," Lott said. "To think that you're going to intimidate a senator or any senator into voting one way or the other by gorging your phones with phone calls — most of whom don't even know where Gulfport, Miss., is — is not an effective tactic. But it's their right to do that."

But to some of the hosts, such as Hewitt, it's not about intimidation. It's about pride. Lott's comments were not just inflammatory, Hewitt said, they were insulting.

To The Washington Post, Lott had said, "I'm sure senators on both sides of the aisle are being pounded by these talk-radio people who don't even know what's in the bill." To the New York Times, he had offered: "Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the immigration bill's chief architects, suggested on Sunday that opponents of the deal border on being racist.

"We've been down this road before — 'no Catholics,' 'no Jews,' 'Irish need not apply,' " Graham said on ABC's "This Week."

Those quotes suggest that Republicans favorably disposed to the immigration bill are more interested in calling its opponents names than debating the bill's merits, said Hewitt, who declared he has read the entire immigration bill.

"They are not giving sophisticated answers to sophisticated, penetrating criticisms," Hewitt said. "They're attempting to silence the debate."

But the conservative response to Lott may be symptomatic of a broader disenchantment with the Republican Party, said Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of Talkers magazine, which chronicles talk radio.

The immigration debate is a bellwether, he said, but conservative criticism is brewing on issues from education to spending to Iraq. Last week the magazine granted its annual Freedom of Speech Award to Savage for his criticism of President Bush, the first time Harrison can remember honoring a talk show host for speaking out against someone of his own political persuasion.

Republican politicians "assumed they owned conservative talk radio," Harrison said. "But support of conservatives by talk radio was only being borrowed as long as conservatives felt that Republicans served the conservative movement."

Republicans backing the immigration bill were mindful this week of Lott's experience — and contrite. Asked about the radio response, Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., joked, "I ain't saying a thing" before adding: "When we want to be on talk radio, we find a way to get on, because we like their views and we like their audience. So when we don't like their message, we ought to be willing to take the pain."

But to the bill's opponents, it's not about grinning and bearing it, as Martinez is doing. It's about accepting the judgment of the GOP's base.

"Talk radio was sort of the watchdog on this," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. "Who else was watching out? Who else was reading the bill?"

"A decent respect for our constituents means when they have very serious problems with an important piece of legislation, perhaps we should back off," he said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4907252.html

"To think we can't intimidate a senator to voting one way or an other with phone calls" What in the world does he mean by this? Maybe he just forgot who in the world he works for.
I'm sure lots of Americans don't know where Gulfport is, who cares?
Before we went into Iraq Collin Powell was giving an open interview and a Iraq reporter asked him what do the American people know about Iraq, only 12% know where it is. Mr. Powell replied, "perhaps so, but unfortunatly for you those 12% are United States Marines."
Well, Mr. Lott the Marines are coming after you in the form of the American voters!

After Katrina went through that area almost everyone in the U.S. and many outside the U.S. knew where Gulfport was. The only people that were confused with that was the Bush administration. It's sad when you have a natural catastrophe in the U.S. and the president is clueless of the event for two days.

Originally Posted by dragonfire

After Katrina went through that area almost everyone in the U.S. and many outside the U.S. knew where Gulfport was. The only people that were confused with that was the Bush administration. It's sad when you have a natural catastrophe in the U.S. and the president is clueless of the event for two days.

I doubt that Bush knew where Mississippi was. Maybe he thought it was part of Indonesia or something.

added to the homepage

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What a pig. Senator get's caught not doing his job and is instead calling his constituents names.
It's time for some discipline. Next election this Senator is gone.

That's another ridiculous statement he made.
He needs to be intimidated at the ballot box next time he's up for election.
He thinks he should do whatever he wants regardless of those he is supposed to represent???? What gall!

This clearly shows the elitist mentality of these senatorial bags of hot gas.

We must rid our government of these traitors.

You guys have probably already seen the mass email congress site, but here it is again.

http://www.outsourcecongress.org

I think these guys should keep there mouths shut while they are still ahead and have a 3% approval rateing


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