Taking a stand before the Friday-afternoon-to-Monday-morning news brownout, President Bush had some harsh words for Trent Lott:
Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive and it is wrong... Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. . .
Fiery words -- but with how much real heat? Bush never called for Lott to step down as Senate Majority Leader-designate, and rightly so. That's a matter for Senate Republicans to decide. But had Bush simply said, "it's up to his conscience and his fellow Senators to decide if my friend Trent Lott remains Majority Leader," then the message "Lott must go" would be made loud enough for even Trent to understand.
The President's words today will partly cover Republican asses -- including his own -- in 2004. But he should have gone that one sentence farther.
Lott is toast. There's no way in the world he will survive this media feeding frenzy, especially after Bush's statement. I predicted yesterday that Lott would be gone in 2 to 6 days, and now even the low end of my guess is looking like an overestimate. The only remaining question is how the Republicans will stage Lott's resignation so as to try to save him a bit of face. After all, they just want him to step down as Majority Leader, not resign from the Senate.
WHile I disagreewith your post below regarding the content of Lott's character, I agree with you here -- Bush could have given a final and well needed shove to get Lott to walk the plank.
Nevertheless, I still think Lott's history. My bet is he'll be gone by Wedesday.
