Politics, Politics
So, Trent Lott is back in a leadership role in the Senate, this time as minority whip. This has a lot of folks on the right side of the 'sphere a bit upset. Since a lot of them (this was before my time) had rather a lot to do with Lott losing his post as majority leader, they are personally invested, so their positions make sense. But let me be a contrarian here: Doesn't Lott have a lot of experience in operating in a leadership role when in the minority? His biography says he served 8 years as minority whip in the House and was majority whip in the Senate before as well.
Wouldn't that experience be useful right about now?
UPDATE: I'll try and break this down into two categories: anti-Lott and Not-quite-anti-Lott (some have qualifications on their support).
Not Quite: Don Surber, QandO, Sister Toldjah,
Anti: OTB, Tigerhawk, ALF, Captain's Quarters, Redstate, Malkin, Blogs of War, RWN,
Well, rather than continue this, a lot of people have done roundups already. Let's be kind here, this is a horrendously bad move for the Republicans on a PR level alone. Lott is going to have to deliver a fabulous performance to redeem himself. The bar is set very, very high.
Other Links to this Post
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Blogs of War — November 15, 2006 @ 8:44 pm
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Sensible Mom — November 15, 2006 @ 9:32 pm
By Paul A'Barge, November 15, 2006 @ 2:28 pm
Wouldn’t that experience be useful right about now?
Nope.
Like if you needed to butcher a deer you shot on the first day of hunting season, you’d want to go hunting with a serial slash-murderer.
By mokus, November 15, 2006 @ 3:04 pm
Experience would be very useful, the right kind of experience that is. But Trent Lott isn’t the right guy, he can’t be trusted to use that experience to serve GOP interests.
Lott’s most serious betrayal came during the Clinton impeachment proceedings. Clinton had been impeached in the House, but when the case was to come before the Senate, Lott agreed with Dems and refused to allow the House Impeachment Committee members to call witnesses or to openly present evidence of Clinton’s perjury, and obstruction of justice.
It was so unexpected and bizarre some pundits speculated Lott may have been blackmailed. There was simply no credible explanation for pulling the rug out from under the House Managers. Lott’s decision sabotaged the whole impeachment process and kept the public from hearing the case against Bill Clinton.
The result was Dems got to defend Clinton and vote against removal from office without ever having to face the evidence, which was overwhelming, or have the public see them make excuses and cover up for gross violations of the law.
MSM was there to tell us how it was all a big mistake for the GOP to have brought the charges in the first place, and how the public just wanted it to go away, for the good of the country, of course.
Trent Lott is a Washington insider, who cares more for power, privilege, and protecting his own rear end than he does for anything else. True, he got a raw deal over his birthday remarks, but the reason Republicans sat by quietly and did not rise in his defense is they were glad and relieved to see him go.
By crosspatch, November 15, 2006 @ 3:21 pm
I like the entry on Hugh Hewitt’s blog by Dean Barnett:
If you like pork, you will love Trent Lott. I think even his (very bad) toupee is made from bacon.
Putting Lott back in charge of the Republicans in the Senate is almost as goofy as the Democrats running Jimmy Carter for president again.
By Gaius, November 15, 2006 @ 3:31 pm
Actually, Mokus, I always thought the House Republicans should not have gone for the impeachment. No matter how the trial went, there was no way the Senate was going to have enough votes to convict.
I really never followed Lott’s career, so I’m flying a little blind on this one. An awful lot of people seem really upset with this, though. Including lefties, so that part is actually encouraging, I think.
By TC@LeatherPenguin, November 15, 2006 @ 6:18 pm
Crosspatch called it; the man is just another cloakroom wheeler dealer who never met an earmark that he couldn’t resist tucking into legislation in the dark of night. As Republican Minority Whip he’ll be handing them out like candy to keep balky GOP Senate members happy and voting whichever way he and McConnell wants them voting.
By mokus, November 15, 2006 @ 7:26 pm
Whether there were enough votes in the Senate to convict wasn’t the most important issue. At the very least the American public would have had an opportunity to see their elected representatives at work, debating and voting.
Americans would have had the opportunity and to decide for themselves if their representatives were serving them, themselves, or their party, and would have been able to determine if their Senators deserved to be returned to office.
Trent Lott denied voters that opportunity.
By Arlo, November 15, 2006 @ 8:43 pm
Am I ever not a fan of Bill Clinton nor was I ever but those impeachment charges were thin gruel. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/12/09/articles.docs/
Obstruction of justice, perjury and abuse of power charges involve mind reading in the context of these particular charges – definition of “sexual relations,” whether he was trying to get Betty Currie to say what he wanted her to say. The Betty Currie one was extremely weak because the Republicans had the opportunity to call witnesses and they declined to call Betty Currie.
I wish he’d resigned in January when it first came out. That behavior of his showed no respect for his office, for Ms. Lewinsky, for his family, for his staff, his party or for himself. It was a bad year for the country and he put everyone in such a bad position, including the Republicans in the House. What were they supposed to do with it? What a situation.
By Quilly Mammoth, November 17, 2006 @ 12:21 am
I suspect vengence. Trent Lott knows every trick in the book on how to get things, or block things, done in the Senate. He’ll make Daschle look like an child when it comes to frustrating the majority party. Republicans have seen effort after effort blocked by Democrats. Now they intend to do the same…in spades.