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December
18, 2002, 8:45 a.m.
Mitch
McConnell
MIA.
By NRO Staff
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EDITOR’S
NOTE: The newspaper accounts tell us that Senator Trent Lott is taking
the names of who is or isn't going to stand by him while he tries to maintain
his hold on power by any means necessary. Well, so is NRO. We know the
senators want this matter to operate by the super-secret rules of the
Skull & Bones Society, but it's too important for that. Excuse us
for noting the performance of senators at a crucial time for the GOP.
itch McConnell
is smart and tough as nails. There is good reason for his being frequently
mentioned as a possible Senate Majority Leader. And anyone who loves the
First Amendment owes him a debt for his relentless opposition to campaign-finance
reform.
But McConnell is
aiding and abetting an ongoing Republican nightmare, as he helps prop
Trent Lott up to be a punching bag for the Democrats and to continue his
sell-out apology tour.
In light of the hypocrisy
of many of Lott's Left-wing critics, there was something satisfying (if
not particularly high-minded) in McConnell's threat on Sunday to censure
Democratic old-bull senators who have made racially insensitive remarks
over the years. But this was partisan toughness in the service of partisan
self-immolation.
Senator Robert Byrd
is, unfortunately, not the point. Senator Byrd is not hurting the Republican
party now. Senator Byrd is not causing — thanks to his ego and devotion
to power — a drawn-out meltdown. Senator Lott is.
That McConnell is
Lott's friend increases his obligation to tell Lott the truth: that he
probably can't win this fight and that, even if he could, it wouldn't
be worth it, not if he cares about the GOP.
The conventional
wisdom has been that McConnell is well positioned in any Lott succession
struggle, since he has demonstrated his loyalty (apparently the foremost
Senate value) over the last week. But he could play that hand too long,
since loyalty to the party ultimately should trump loyalty to the current
Majority Leader.
Read NRO:
On Nickles. On
Santorum. On Frist.
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