Even if one accepts (as I do) that Trent Lott was simply paying a courtly compliment to an elderly colleague when he made his poorly received statement regarding Strom Thurmond, rehabilitating the man back into a leadership role simply seems like a bad idea.

Four years after racially impolitic remarks cost him the Senate's top post, Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.) rejoined Congress's leadership ranks yesterday when his Republican colleagues turned to the veteran insider and skilled vote-counter to help them plot their return to majority status.

By a 25 to 24 secret-ballot vote, Lott defeated Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) for the position of minority whip, the party's second-highest post. As expected, GOP senators elected Mitch McConnell (Ky.) as Senate minority leader for the new Congress that will convene in January. But his victory was tempered by Lott's come-from-behind win over Alexander, who was seen as McConnell's and the Bush administration's preferred choice for whip.

An assistant whip might have been acceptable, but certainly not the second-highest GOP slot in the Senate. It just looks bad at a time when we need more new faces in leadership.

But then again, considering the news in the post below this one, perhaps it isn't such a big deal -- if a Kluxer like Robert Byrd can be elevated to a position three heartbeats from the presidency, then certainly we can forgive an awkward statement made to an old man on his birthday.

Posted by: Greg at 11:44 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 253 words, total size 2 kb.