[B Knotts]

Oh, please. Is it such a crime to please an old man on his 100th birthday?

Do you really believe that Trent Lott is a segregationist, or can you recognize a partisan cheap shot from the Slate when you see it?

[William McKinley]

It did not come across that way to me. But let's for a minute stipulate that you are correct- it was just humoring the old man on his 100th birthday.

If that is the case then it was a blindingly stupid thing to say. It is handing your political opponents a club to beat you and your party over the head with.

Frankly, if he said it not meaning it, he is amazingly negligent with the limelight he has been entrusted by his party, and this coupled with his poor performance as Majority Leader should be more than sufficient to bring his ouster.

And if he said it meaning it, which is how it comes across to me, then it is even worse.