UPDATE (11/15/06): Lott won his Senate Minority Whip race against Alexander by a squeaker vote of 25 to 24, according to Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA). He will be second in command to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who won his post unanimously.
Cf. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/11/15/D8LDJE9G1.html.
Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) officially announced last night his run for Minority Whip in the U.S. Senate after being banished to his political Moab after impolitic remarks he made at a 2002 birthday party feting Strom Thurmond (R-SC). The former Senate Majority Leader said that he thought America would be better off if the 1948 Dixiecrat presidential nominee and erstwhile segregationalist Thurmond would have won. His remarks created a firestorm among those offended by his comments and others who also saw the opportunity to take down the GOP leader who was "making nice" with Daschle and Clinton.
Cf. http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/111406/lott.html.
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11 comments:
I am glad that Lott is back. Being a fellow Mississippian might influence my opinion, but I am glad he is back and hope we will keep him in our prayers. Your Mom
It appears to me that Mitch McConnell of KY has the inside track to Minority Leader, and I think that Lott could be an effective Whip for him. Lott (like Byrd (D-WV), another U.S. Senator with a racial insensitive past and worse) has an encyclopedic knowlege of how to manipulate the senatorial workings which should serve him well as he tries to resurrect himself as a pivotal leader for his GOP colleagues.
Lott knows how to effectively lead the party when it is in the minority (he did a great job as Minority Leader), but he doesn't know what to do with himself when the party is in majority. He always seemed to lack a backbone on issues of principle and tended toward the politically expedient. He let a lot of us down by his belittling of the House's impeachment decision of Clinton. He's a familiar face, but we'll see how he does.
First thing he ought to do is push for Rangel to resign for his racist remarks against Mississippi. Rangel should be called an 'Uncle Tom' of the democrats and should be given unmitigated hell for being the self-righteous yankee b*&@#$% that he is.
So, Jon, how do you really feel? :)
One of these days, I'll tell you, Joe.
Today we should know whether the new Senate Minority Leader is Trent Lott or Lamar Alexander. Also, last night on Hannity & Colmes, Rangel said that he's going to Mississippi (hosted by Rep. Gene Taylor (D-MS) who was one of the few Dems to vote for impeachment) and that he was going to enjoy apologying to the people of Mississippi. Maybe, Rangel will compensate for his negative comment about MS, and thus help the Magnolia State come out ahead in the long run.
"who also saw the opportunity to take down the GOP leader who was "making nice" with Daschle and Clinton. "
I have heard that many in the GOP were waiting for a chance to repay Mr. Frist for his treatment (backstabbing?) of Sen. Lott back in 2002.
Bart, I'm not exactly what you mean as to repaying Frist since Frist is leaving after two terms as he promised and possibly in preparation for a presidential run.
I think Sen. Rick Santorum would be a good presidential candidate. He is a strong conservative Christian who I believe would wake up the republican's true base. He would stand in stark contrast to the other candidates who are conservative only in their views on the war, terrorism, and government and who are no different from their liberal counterparts on social issues of abortion, gay rights, gun control, etc.
I concur that Santorum is a principled conservative in his views. However, he did antagonize Pennsylvania social conservatives with his endorsement of moderate/lib
Arlen Specter in Specter's latest primary challenge by a strong conservative candidate. Santorum was in lockstep with the Bush administration on that call. Since Roberts and Alito got confirmed, one might argue that the strategy was politically astute.
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