I agree. But so much heat seems to be coming from his own party. I think that the Republican caucus wants a "regime change."
One thing is for sure, his POV is not a surprise to anyone. So why now?
Because now is when the budgets and committee assignments are being decided for the next session, which begins in January. The Pubbies were talking about a 66-33% split of the Senate operating budget, while the Dems were demanding a 50-50% split. Whatever his flaws, Lott was leading the resistance to the Democrat demands for parity and "bi-partisanship." By taking Lott out now, the Dems improve their position for the next session.
I maintain that this was a planned hit, and that if Lott hadn't said these particular words at the birthday party, the Dems would have found some other pretext for launching this attack at this time.