# Will Lott's return to the leadership backfire on the Republicans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618 "2006-11-16T01:58:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/1 "2006-11-16T01:58:01Z")
Just when the GOP partisans on the board had finished telling us how the party had repudiated its segregationists and other racists, [they put Trent Lott back in the leadership](http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/15/congress.leaders.ap/index.html). His next cover photo in the Council of Conservative Citizens newsletter (remember them? The KKK without hoods?) will no doubt be on the stands next month. So what the hell were they thinking? That this election was just a hiccup, that their base is solidly behind them and understands the wink-and-a-nod game? Perhaps that, freed from the responsibilities that go along with absolute power, they can get back to the insiders’ club style of politics, where only one’s standing with one’s fellow club members matters, not the views of the peasantry that will get back to voting loyally once they get this war-anger business out of their systems? Or is this simple cluelessness, not arrogance? I would hate to think Lott is actually one of the best and brightest of the remaining bunch in the Senate Republican Caucus, but maybe he is. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/2 "2006-11-16T03:11:47Z")
:eek: Trent Lott is still **alive?!** They didn’t euthanize him?! That’s abominable cruelty! ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/3 "2006-11-16T03:15:22Z")
You know, when you lose something that doesn’t mean that you need to go all the way and commit suicide in your despair. The Republicans, with this appointment to their leadership, seem intent on committing institutional suicide for at least a generation. Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott… didn’t they learn a damn thing? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/4 "2006-11-16T06:25:26Z")
My guess would be that Lott will have no specific effect on the situation. He had to step down because of public clamor, but I suspect that it had more to do with the perceptions of the party that they had been embarrassed than because anyone in the party felt he was behaving poorly in the job. As long as he makes no new statemewnts that can be tied back to the era of Jim Crow, there will be no uproar. And as the minority party leader, he will not be in the daily spotlight to make any serious blunders. If he had sufficient support within the party by those who felt that he was competent to plan strategy, meet with the senior members of the majority, and discipline the members of his own party, then he will probably trundle along on a daily basis just getting done the administrative work to which he has been chosen to perform while making sufficient noises that the Democrats have ruined GWB’s specatcular vision for the liberation of Iraq and the elimination of the “death tax” (on the .00001%\* of the population who paid it). - (My made up number to represent the tiny fraction of people who are actually affected by inheritance taxes.) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/5 "2006-11-16T14:03:35Z")
It depends on whether or not the Pubbies can learn not to be so shrill and confrontational, which is why they never win any elections, you know. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/6 "2006-11-16T14:36:39Z")
I don’t think it’s terribly significant. One comment made during a speech shouldn’t condemn anyone to being an outcast, unless of course you’re John Kerry. The average guy doesn’t really give a rip about the Senate party leadership, he’s more interested in what the Senate actually does. I suspect the actions taken by the Senate with Lott as Minority Leader would be pretty much the same as they would be without him at that post. ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/7 "2006-11-16T14:48:53Z")
And if it’s any consolation whatsoever, the vote was 25-24. While he got it, it seems that there are any number of Republicans who are either uncomfortable with the idea, or more comfortable with someone else. Who, by the by, was Lott in contention with? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/8 "2006-11-16T14:53:44Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] :eek: Trent Lott is still **alive?!** They didn’t euthanize him?! That’s abominable cruelty! [/QUOTE] Heh. The polls here in lovely Mississippi closed at 7pm. His victory was the first one the local news projected…at 7:05pm. Kind of one of those “Why did a couple hundred trees have to die for signs for a campaign that was guaranteed” moments. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/9 "2006-11-16T15:01:25Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] here in lovely Mississippi -Joe [/QUOTE] Has Mr. Lott rebuilt his house yet? [Does it have a fantastic porch](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/20/AR2005092001414.html) to which he can invite the president? ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/10 "2006-11-16T15:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Has Mr. Lott rebuilt his house yet? [Does it have a fantastic porch](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/20/AR2005092001414.html) to which he can invite the president? [/QUOTE] I don’t think so. Trent “we gotta reform them torts” Lott is currently one of thousands of people suing his insurance company over whether his house was demolished by wind and then flooded or flooded and then demolished by wind. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/11 "2006-11-16T15:38:14Z")
[QUOTE=GLWasteful] Who, by the by, was Lott in contention with? [/QUOTE] [Lamar(!) Alexander](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_Alexander) ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/12 "2006-11-16T15:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] As long as he makes no new statements that can be tied back to the era of Jim Crow, there will be no uproar. [/QUOTE] It’s sad that we even have to include this caveat at all. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/13 "2006-11-16T16:22:47Z")
I now officially give up on the hope of seeing small-government conservatism ascendant in my lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/14 "2006-11-16T16:36:16Z")
From Michelle Malkin’s blog, here are some conservative bloggers take on Lott coming back… > [@](#): > > The American Pundit: We really needed someone who is quoted on Porkbusters’ front page as saying “I’ll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I’m getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina”. Right Voices: Between this and Mel Martinez, we’re really on a roll. > PostWatch: Combined with other inspiring actions like the Sen. Mel Amnesty Martinez becoming the head of the Republican National Committee, it appears the GOP has decided it needs some time to recover from the burdens of leadership. Say, ten or fifteen years. > > Captain’s Quarters: We sent Republicans to clean up Congress, not to clean up for themselves in porkfests that rival anything that came before them. Trent Lott represents the worst of that class, and the mere idea that he remains in consideration for a leadership position after his commentary this year proves that the GOP hasn’t listened hard enough. > > Free Republic: We suck. > > The Bidinotto Blog: Trent Lott, just elected Senate minority whip by his GOP colleagues, represents the worst of the old-boy network in the Republican Party: an aphilosophical, wheeler-dealer, pork-peddling pragmatist with a long, ugly record of compromises, sell-outs, and “me-too’ing” in the face of liberal Democrat intiatives. Lott wouldn’t know a moral principle if it walked up and spit in his face. Yeah. I’d say conservatives are pissed, and for good reason. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/15 "2006-11-16T16:38:09Z")
[QUOTE=furt] I now officially give up on the hope of seeing small-government conservatism ascendant in my lifetime. [/QUOTE] Why? What’s Lott’s record on that score? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/16 "2006-11-16T16:39:46Z")
[QUOTE=Merijeek] I don’t think so. Trent “we gotta reform them torts” Lott is currently one of thousands of people suing his insurance company over whether his house was demolished by wind and then flooded or flooded and then demolished by wind. -Joe [/QUOTE] An insurance claim is not a tort claim. Completely different legal issues. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/17 "2006-11-16T16:41:21Z")
Considering the reason Lott was disgraced in the first place, am I really the first one in this thread to point out the humor in his new title? I mean, he’s the **minority whip**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/18 "2006-11-16T16:48:45Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Considering the reason Lott was disgraced in the first place, am I really the first one in this thread to point out the humor in his new title? I mean, he’s the **minority whip**. 😃 [/QUOTE] Is he? Minority **whip** and minority **leader** are two different posts. I assumed Lott had been chosen for the latter, but the linked article in the OP doesn’t make that clear. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/19 "2006-11-16T16:51:36Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Is he? Minority **whip** and minority **leader** are two different posts. I assumed Lott had been chosen for the latter, but the linked article in the OP doesn’t make that clear. [/QUOTE] > [@article linked in OP](#): > > Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the **No. 2 post** Wednesday for the minority GOP in the next Congress. The #2 post is the whip. In addition, the photo caption from that article identifies him as the newly elected whip. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618/20 "2006-11-16T17:01:23Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Why? What’s Lott’s record on that score? [/QUOTE] See Debaser’s post above. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-lotts-return-to-the-leadership-backfire-on-the-republicans/380618.md?page=2)