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Even though I don't believe that's what Lott meant, nor that he's a racist, that fact is inescapable.

This sentence is unbelieveable!

You don't think Lott meant anything racist, or that he is, in fact, racist, still it's an "inescapable fact" that he is racist.

Help me out here. I don't get it.

I need you, and I'm asking you as you President to do this for the good of America."

And, were I Lott, I'd look Bush in the eye and say

Mr. President, do you think I'm a racist?

If you don't, why are you asking me to step down instead of defending me?

I'm too racist to be Majority Leader, but not racist enough to have me on your team?

You don't think Lott meant anything racist, or that he is, in fact, racist, still it's an "inescapable fact" that he is racist.

Help me out here. I don't get it.

The inescapable fact is not that Lott is a racist, it's that on the very face his breathtakingly ill-considered remarks, the plainest sense was that he was paying homage to Strom Thrumond's segregationist campaign of 1948.
When someone says, "I'm gonna kill him," the plainest sense is that he intends murder, though an examination of context might inform us otherwise.
Words mean things, and Lott's words mean he is through as Majority Leader.

To be honest, it really doesn't matter whether or not Lott is a racist, though, I suspect he is, with good reason, given the Bob Jones amicus brief, the 1980 rally, and his recent comment. How else could they be taken? I challange you to give a reasonable explanation of how the nation would be better off if a segregationist had been elected in 1948.

But that really doesn't matter. Let's assume for a minute that Lott meant something completely innocent. He then was incredibly foolish in saying something that could so easily be interpreted so contraversially. He then compounded that error with an underwhelming apology.

Basically, Lott is either a racist jerk, or an idiot suffering from diarrhea of the mouth. Either way, he is not qualified to be Senate Majority leader of our party.

Sink, I'm surprised that you are still claiming that this is about racism. It's about monumental stupidity and a mindnumbing lack of political skill on the part of the leader of the majority in the senate. If he was half a man he'd see this for himself and nobody would have to ask him to do what is right.

I am no longer calling for his ouster but not because I believe he should remain. I'm backing off because I believe that this country needs to be united while we are facing grave dangers. However! Once this is resolved, we need to keep him from ever being put in front of a camera as a representative of the republican party unless we surgically remove his tongue. We simply can't afford any more of his political ineptness.

You don't think Lott meant anything racist, or that he is, in fact, racist, still it's an "inescapable fact" that he is racist.

Help me out here. I don't get it.

No, you don't. In the following quote: "Even though I don't believe that's what Lott meant, nor that he's a racist, that fact is inescapable," the author is referring not to the supposition that Lott is a racist, but to this earlier sentence which appeared previous to the abovementioned quote:

"The plainest sense of Lott's words are that he approves of the above."

In other words, Lott isn't a racist... he misspoke badly, and needs to backpedal hard to make it better.

Frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing him step down. He hasn't done much to advance anything resembling a conservative agenda.

Good point. I'd love to see Lot gone, but not like this. Plus if he leaves he'll do like most respectable Republicans and resign completely. If he's not good enough to serve as majority leader, he's not good enough to server. Remember when we were trying to find a House leader last time? So if Lot gets pushed out, that feeds the RATs to go after the next guy who then resigns and now the RATs will control the Senate.

We can't feed the RATs. Stand with Lot over this issue, and later we can fight him about his lack of a spine.

Sinkspur your posts of Lots questions in return put everything in perspective and helped me sort this out in my head...thank you.

Mr. President, do you think I'm a racist?
No, but Trent, with your past 'discarded policies', you sure as he** sounded like one, again. That doesn't play well for a leader that is joined at the hip with a 'compassionate conservative' POTUS, does it?

If you don't, why are you asking me to step down instead of defending me?Trent, again, I like you and appreciate you. The good future of our agenda could go down with you on this. You did not rise above even the appearance of impropriety, and you now as well as I do that this is *the* 3rd rail issue in America today. You are a major, major and hard to defend target in that position.

I'm too racist to be Majority Leader, but not racist enough to have me on your team?

Trent, I didn't say you were a racist. You stepped in it big time and when you are no longer a target, we wil defend you to the end and use this to ram it right back up the racist RATS rear end if they don't drop it. They can run Trent the bigot ads whenever they want, and we'll return with ads that define who they are on the issue. We will all be better off for it. Thank you, Trent, for putting the country ahead of yourself. You know we will take care of you, Trent.