Trent Lott is back.
By on Nov 15th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Trent Lott is back.
In a 25-24 vote, the Senate Republican caucus has elected Trent Lott (R-MS) as Minority Whip, the #2 minority position in the Senate. As expected, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was elected Senate Minority Leader. Lott, who defeated Lamar Alexander (R-TN), resigned his post as Minority Leader in 2002 after he said the United States would have avoided “all these problems” if then-segregationist Strom Thurmond had been elected president in 1948.
UPDATE: The full leadership roster.
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tut tut tut, ThinkProgress. Minority Whip is NOT the number 2 position in the senate. It’s the number 2 position in Minority leadership. Wasn’t there a screencap a few days ago pillorying FoxNews for saying Hastert wouldnt run for ‘Minority Speaker’????
November 15th, 2006 at 10:53 amHeh.
Just start talking, Trent…
November 15th, 2006 at 10:55 amRepublicans. The gift that keeps on giving.
November 15th, 2006 at 10:56 amLooks like the GOP continues to move to the radical right-wing: just the latestin the death of conservative governance theory.
November 15th, 2006 at 10:58 amthat didnt take long. who says one guy cant make a difference.
November 15th, 2006 at 11:00 amRepublicans just to love moving in reverse. Maybe they should get a pic and shovel and dig up old strom.
November 15th, 2006 at 11:04 amThe party of the has been.
that didnt take long. who says one guy cant make a difference.
Comment by mike` — November 15, 2006 @ 11:00 am
Good point. Just look at the difference that Bush has made in the world.
November 15th, 2006 at 11:06 amPlease don’t get me wrong…no tarring and feathering thanks…but I’ve come to kind of like Trent since his banishment. He’s been much more up front about what he thinks and speaks his mind.
Do I agree with any of his political positions? NO! But I do appreciate candor. Also, he is able to humor himself with the humility of his recent experiences. Also, maybe it was his Jon Stewart appearance. Whatever…
Flame away now.
November 15th, 2006 at 11:11 amDon’t republicans EVER learn???
November 15th, 2006 at 11:19 amI am not surprised because the GOP membership is corrupt! Sen. Lott and Sen. McConnell are 2 of the worst members in the Senate > they take bribes from every sleazy lobbyist in DC! THis shows that the GOP has NO intention to clean up their party!
November 15th, 2006 at 11:20 amI am a Republican, proud to be so. But Trent Lott is an idiot, as are, apparently, 25 of the senators.
At least we won’t have to look at his face in the 2008 presidential race.
I hope!
November 15th, 2006 at 11:22 amWhat is with the Republican’s propensity to elect people with helmet hair? Lott, Frist, that other guy…number two under Hastert, I think, begins with a “B”. Scary.
November 15th, 2006 at 11:31 amWhile Republicans are electing leaders who are corrupt, and in the pocket of lobbyist, the entire NECON controlled media is swiftboating MURTHA for an unproven allegation of 26 years ago.
The real reason is Murtha’s position on quick redeployment which is not in the interest of Israel. Olmert’s visit also had this agenda. Dont withdraw from Iraq and push America to do its dirty work and attack Iran .
November 15th, 2006 at 11:33 ambet he looks good in women’s lingeree touting that WHIP
November 15th, 2006 at 12:05 pmHelmet hair is usually a sign of a toupee.
November 15th, 2006 at 12:49 pmI agree w/Kindness; Lott has actually said some stuff in the past
year that makes some sense, but I have absolutely no room for
racists in or out of congress.
What I found astounding was how the liberals castigated Trent Lott unrelentingly for his kind words to an old man at his 100th birthday party on one hand and on the other with a straight face said John Kerry only “blew the joke” when he insulted U.S. troops. You then proceeded to criticize the republicans for knowing what John Kerry meant but not admitting it. Maybe just maybe democrats knew what Trent Lott meant when he praised Thurmond. You people don’t have a double standard do you? HAHAHAHA
November 15th, 2006 at 1:26 pmNo, IHL, Kerry was calling Bush stupid for getting stuck in Iraq — and the funny thing is, Dumbya has no idea the joke was on him
November 15th, 2006 at 1:54 pmThe culture of corruption continues!!!!
Sen. Reid is now being investigated for taking a serious amount of cash (bribe) from Abrimoff. Good for Reid!!!
http://blogs.abcnews.com/ theblotter/ 2006/ 11/ abramoff_report_1.html
November 15th, 2006 at 1:58 pmEveryone knows what Kerry meant
You got to love the Chicken Hawk White House calling for John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, to apologize to troops.
Kerry’s botched joke — or whatever that was — provides the Bush administration a nice, little one-day diversion from the mess that is Iraq on the way to the mid-term elections. But everyone knows what Kerry was trying to say — even the most diehard Bush hugger — and everyone knows exactly what Kerry wasn’t trying to say. He wasn’t trying to say that if you’re stupid you end up in Iraq; he was trying say that if you’re privileged you get to avoid military service (and maybe even end up as the Chicken-Hawk-In-Chief sending others to do the fighting.) Check out this book if you have a chance: AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes From Military Service and How It Hurts Our Country.
This is classic Swift Boat politics — the effort to turn a strength (Kerry’s military veteran creds) into a negative.
It works — or, at least it did in 2004 — for a president and the White House eager for distraction as the casualties mount in Iraq, as military leaders become convinced that a timetable for withdrawal is necessary to force the Iraqi government to action, as reports emerge about unaccounted-for weapons and wasted millions on reconstruction and estimates of hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths. What we’ll have is mountain-out-of-mole-hill, radio talk show controversy for a day or so, then “Kerry’s insult” will go away, and soon enough it will be Election Day. It can’t get here fast enough.
Click here for a column on the subject that received a huge amount of mail.
November 1, 2006, 8:36 AM | Permalink
November 15th, 2006 at 1:59 pmHere is some text from the 1948 Dixiecrat Platform that Senator Lott endorsed which cost him his Senate leadership post:
4. We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race; the constitutional right to choose one’s associates; to accept private employment without governmental interference, and to learn one’s living in any lawful way. We oppose the elimination of segregation, the repeal of miscegenation statutes, the control of private employment by Federal bureaucrats called for by the misnamed civil rights program.
5. We oppose and condemn the action of the Democratic Convention in sponsoring a civil rights program calling for the elimination of segregation, social equality by Federal fiat, regulations of private employment practices, voting, and local law enforcement.
6. We affirm that the effective enforcement of such a program would be utterly destructive of the social, economic and political life of the Southern people, and of other localities in which there may be differences in race, creed or national origin in appreciable numbers.
Sounds like someone hates America.
What a backwards-assed, narrow-minded HILLBILLY.
November 15th, 2006 at 2:09 pmTrent Lott selected as Senate Minority Whip, because if there’s one thing that Trent Lott likes, it’s whipping minorities.
November 15th, 2006 at 4:37 pm[…] I saw a blog comment on ThinkProgress.org about this story that really summed it up well: […]
November 15th, 2006 at 4:55 pmYeah, racism was a great boon for this country. This just shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Republicans are inherently racist. End of story.
http://www.getsomejosh.com
November 15th, 2006 at 5:01 pmTwo years ago I would have agreed with you about Lott. He isn’t really a racist (By our standards anyway, but I know everyone who lives in Mississippi is a racist to you enlightened ones.) But he played the Southern Strategy Card often.
However, you guys are missing the point Lott’s election was about Bush vs McCain. Lott and McCain have become good friends since Lott’s fall from grace as they both share a common hatred and sense of betrayal towards W. This is really the GOP picking an experienced leader and foil to the administration. McCain is consolidating his power base in prepartion for the 2008 run. This will give him more control over what bills will pass. This is really good news for moderates, as McCain will now distance himself from the Bush Administration, and try to get some things passed that will help him in his bid for the Presidency. The Interesting thing is Hillary is going to be doing the same thing, as will 8 other senators.
November 15th, 2006 at 6:18 pmThe neocon racist is back. Let the fun begin.
November 15th, 2006 at 6:54 pmThere’s something painfully ironic about Trent Lott being named ‘minority whip.’
November 15th, 2006 at 7:14 pmWell?
…you didn’t vote out al Crackerism now…
…did you?
…they’re still your family members…
…your neighbors…
…your friends…
November 15th, 2006 at 8:01 pmUS Senate Robert C. Byrd my mistake Mr KKK
November 16th, 2006 at 1:29 amI’m a life-long liberal, just had to get that out of the way. Kerry is not the decorated war veteran some say. Just gotta say that an officer that abandoned his men is a coward and has no place deciding policy and leading others. Both his joke and Lott’s weren’t said out of prejudice or mean spiritedness, just perceived that way. Perception is the reality in which we all live. Anyways, we all know Trent Lott is a racist, just look at all of the Council of Conservative Citizens (C of CC or the uptown Klan)recruitment literature.
November 20th, 2006 at 7:27 pm