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More Lott Casting.

Friday, December 13th, 2002

OK, I’m as ready to see Lott go as anyone. But this is pretty ridiculous. NOW stood steadfastly behind a president who solicited blowjobs from interns — the ultimate “abuse of power” relationship — but they’re “outraged” by Trent Lott’s Brittany Spears jokes?

Keep jabbering, ladies. You get more irrelevant by the hour.

This Michelle Malkin piece is more to the point.

I think Lott should go because he’s backward thinking, because he hasn’t an ounce of political vision or initiative, and because he’s probably a bigot. But if his few remaining supporters don’t buy any of that, they should consider the fact that under Lott, leftists are going to couch any major piece of legislation that enters the U.S. Senate in terms as racially incendiary as possible. As majority leader, Lott’s choice — over and over again — will be to either capitulate, or prepare to have the episodes of the last week thrown back in his face for the remainder of his career.

This is troubling for two reasons. First, it will naturally lead to more federal spending, more federal programs, and it will postpone for an even longer time the day when we finally have colorblind government. Lott will give in — several times — to appease his critics. Second, the last thing modern political discourse needs is yet another excuse for the left to fire up its incessant racial demagoguing.

What’s worse, this time they’ll be justified.

Trent Lott has no political capital. He has no moral capital. He should issue a thorough, comprehensive apology and explanation for his remarks, and he should provide self-effacing context to explain (but certainly not excuse) his personal history of fighting efforts to desgregate his school and his fraternity. If he’s smart, he’ll make a sizable donation to a historically black college in Mississippi.

Then he should retire from public life. And all of this should happen in the next week.

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 13th, 2002 at 4:27 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “More Lott Casting.”

  1. #1 |  nikita demosthenes |  December 14th, 2002 at 2:10 am

    Damn them, damn them, damn them – these spineless fools. The Senate Republicans, and the Bush White House, have totally fucked themselves.

    I totally agree with Andrew Sullivan’s December 13 post on Lott, which is just a small sampling of the many, many similar posts in the conservative blogosphere.

    Apparently, maintaining Trent Lott’s smarmy, unctuous, blow-dryed, shuck & jive, bullshit, segregationist, mug in a “leadership” position is more important than the success of the whole rest of the Republican Party.

    I finally have my answer: there is not one Republican Senator in the United States Congress with an ounce of vision or bravery. Spineless fools. Damn them. Damn them to the political oblivion to which they have doomed themselves. They deserve the years of race-baiting, divisive, class-warfare politics that will certainly, certainly ensue.

    And for what? To keep Lott as Majority Leader? Daschle will play him like a cheap piano – like he always has. Fools.

    Stupidity and cowardice are henceforth the sole requirements to be a Republican United States Senator.