Quotes of the Morning: A Lott of Issues

“Unable to win their way with votes, outnumbered Democrats used a rarely invoked Senate rule to force a secret session as a way to dramatize their assertions that the Bush administration misused intelligence in the run-up to war in Iraq.
[…]
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a former majority leader, said a closed session was appropriate for overarching matters like impeachment and chemical weapons - the two topics that last sent the senators into such sessions. Moreover, he said Reid's move violated the Senate's tradition of courtesy and consent. But there was nothing available in the Senate rules Republicans could use to thwart Reid's maneuver. The Senate is authorized to have secret sessions by the Constitution.
But it was the first time in more than two decades the chamber has been forced into a closed session without bipartisian agreement. The last closed session was in 1999 to consider the impeachment of President Clinton.”
-Associated Press, November 2, 2005

“This must be really tough on Trent Lott. I mean, this guy is good friends with some people in the Dubya Administration. You’d hate to have to investigate your friends.”
-Skippy

''The good news is -- and it's hard for some to see it now -- that out of this chaos is going to come a fantastic Gulf Coast, like it was before. Out of the rubbles of Trent Lott's house -- he's lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house, and I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."
-George ‘Dubya’ Bush, September 2, 2005

“It seems though that the stress of the Dubya Administration is taking its toll. Trent seems less.. enthused.. than he used to.”
-Skippy

"There are a lot more people - men, women and minorities - that are more qualified in my opinion by their experience than she is.”
-Trent Lott, on Harriet Miers, October 5, 2005

“Yep. Trent apparently would have accepted several other men, women, or even a minority. Heck, he might even have accepted a minority that WAS a man or woman. He’s good like that. And please, don’t think that that was a stretch for Mr. Lott.”
-Skippy

“[Lott] doesn’t consider himself a member. Nor does he have firsthand familiarity or knowledge of their views.”
- John Czwartacki, press secretary for Trent Lott, on reports of Lott’s connections to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), 1998

“He spoke before the CCC three times in the 1990s, including once as a keynote speaker in 1992. He also wrote a column in the newsletter. His uncle was a local executive for the group, and his cousin was a member.”
-Skippy, December 19, 2002

“The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction and our children will be the beneficiaries!"
-Trent Lott in his keynote speech before the CCC, 1992

"Each of the three major races plays a distinct role in history. . . . The whites were the creators of civilization, the yellows its sustainers and copyists, the blacks its destroyers.”
-CCC website, December, 1998

"Western civilization with all its might and glory would never have achieved its greatness without the directing hand of God and the creative genius of the white race. Any effort to destroy the race by a mixture of black blood is an effort to destroy Western civilization itself."
-Citizen’s Informer (the CCC Newsletter), Fall, 1994

"The presence [in Congress] of even one white person with our interests foremost in his mind is simply unacceptable to the issues-obsessed conservative race traitors. Texas Governor George Bush and his brother Jeb in Florida have manifested their self-hatred by embracing Hispanics ahead of whites. Somehow we must find a way to relieve whites of their self-hatred."
-“Open Letter to White People”, CCC Website, December 1998

"If we want to live, white Americans must begin today to lay the foundations of our future and our children's future.... Start today, fellow white Americans. Look at the faces around you: Find the faces like yours, and see them as your brothers and sisters. Find the fair-skinned babies and see them as your children."
-“A Call to White Americans”, CCC Website, December 1998

“See, Trent has grown. He’s matured. He’s looking for ‘courtesy and consent’ in the Senate. Super.”
-Skippy