Trent Lott on the Man Who Runs America

RUSH: We’re going to go back to October 27th in Oxford, Mississippi, University of Mississippi. There was a forum with Senator Trent Lott and Senator Tom Daschle, and the title of the forum was Senate Leaders Working Together — Which Always Leads to Republicans Losing. They didn’t call it that. I added it. Here’s a portion of Senator Lott’s remarks about his support of the amnesty bill.

LOTT: I learned a lesson. I got clobbered, by name! Some of my close friends, Rush Limbaugh, and they really worked me over really good, and then I wandered out into the hall in front of the Senate chamber. Tom and I tripped into that before, and I said something to the fact that we’ve gotta do something about this talk radio problem. Man, my phones were jammed! (laughter) What did I mean? I had two threats to take me out completely, one of which we turned over to the FBI.

RUSH: (laughing) Oh, I love people that remind people how many death threats they get! Here’s the second bite, another portion of Senator Lott’s remarks.

LOTT: What I was trying to say, though, was, they were not telling the story as I viewed it, and I thought we needed to do something about talk radio by talking to them and explaining what we were trying to do. We came out and said, ‘We have a grand compromise.’ I think that’s what we called it, grand solution, Republicans and Democrats, moderates, conservatives, liberals. ‘We got a deal,’ and then we went home to celebrate, but we didn’t bother to say what was in it. Rush Limbaugh said, ‘This is amnesty.’ We were dead at that moment, because they had a one-word bumper sticker, ‘amnesty,’ and we had a six-paragraph explanation. We got killed. So talk radio has a real impact, and I think they have a role. I would never be a part of trying to shut up either side. This is America. We do have free speech. Everybody is entitled to their point of view.

RUSH: Not for long! Not for long, Senator Lott. If the Democrats win the White House and keep control of the Congress, we are all not going to have free speech rights. We all don’t have them now because of McCain-Feingold.