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No question the Democrats have seized on an opening, stuck the knife in and are now twisting it, but it's about more that just PBA.
The trial balloon was, "Lott should step down as majority leader". That balloon floated magnificently, beyond their wildest dreams, aided by hot air from his own fellow Republicans.
The next trial balloon, already in the whispering stages, will be, "Lott should resign his seat." Lott might just up and do that, returning the Senate to 50-50.

Warning to GOP: Stop the piling on or you might just find yourself negotiating with Puff over control of the Senate again.

I don't know about you, but I'm done with this. It is clear that Lott is going to have to resign as Majority Leader, and, yes, the drumbeat for him to quit altogether is next. The Senate will be 50-50, and Free Republic will continue to blast Lott, even after he's gone.

The Republicans are making spectacles of themselves, trying to outdo the Democrats in outrage.

Guess what? We can't do it. We'll never be able to do it. The Black Caucus is laughing at the GOP, flailing around in the chum-filled water of accusations of racism.

Accuse of us racism, and we say "Yassur, we's racist but we won't be no mo."

Phase two of this sordid tale will commence after Lott resigns as MJL.

BUMP THIS WILL BE THE END OF THE REPUBLICAN WIN AND THE RIGHT WING IS TO BLAME LIKE DRUDGE AND NOONAN AND MOST RIGHT WING WRITERS LIKE CAL THOMAS AND SULLIVAN AND ALL OF THEM ARE AT FAULT.

Phase two of this sordid tale will commence after Lott resigns as MJL.

I agree and it will be vicious.

I feel bad for Lott. I wanted him out as leader, but not in this unfair way.

If Miss. had a GOP Gov, resigning MJL would most likely satiate the wolves, but the possible upside of stoking this fire is too big. Surely a small army of enthusiasts have every remark and meeting of Lott's under the microscope.

I have to agree with you on this one. For the record, I've never liked Trent Lott, as a man or a politician. He's a spineless mannequin on his most ferocious days. But this manufactured issue should have lasted as long as took for Republicans to mount a unified answer: that being that there are numerous instances of Democrat "racism" that have been overlooked by the press, some very recently. Or give a collective "no comment." Or a collective "yeah, he was stupid for saying it, but look at his record over as a legislator...is the guy a racist?"

Or, if Trent intended nothing racist in his words, he could have come out and said what he really intended. My guess his intent was something along the line that more conservative legislators in Washington could have prevented, in general, the overall slide into whatever mess we have on our hands now.

It's pathetic how conditioned Republicans (in this case) have become to responding with acquiesence to cries of racism. No amount of stepping down, back, under, whatever will ever diminish the cries of racism, so just don't do it. Don't step down, don't back down, don't give in just to quell a temporary cry of racism. They'll just find another reason later on to levy the same charge.

Stop deluding yourselves that there's anything you can do that will convince the race-baiters that Republicans aren't the collective Antichrist. It's their entire agenda, it's all they've got. They aren't going to give it up.

I don't know about you, but I'm done with this. It is clear that Lott is going to have to resign as Majority Leader, and, yes, the drumbeat for him to quit altogether is next. The Senate will be 50-50, and Free Republic will continue to blast Lott, even after he's gone.
The Republicans are making spectacles of themselves, trying to outdo the Democrats in outrage.
Guess what? We can't do it. We'll never be able to do it. The Black Caucus is laughing at the GOP, flailing around in the chum-filled water of accusations of racism.
Accuse of us racism, and we say "Yassur, we's racist but we won't be no mo."

Phase two of this sordid tale will commence after Lott resigns as MJL.

***

I completely disagree with your take on the Lott fiasco.

The drumbeat to resign will be of a much lesser volume than to step down. For one thing, no Republicans will join the Black Caucus in the calls for resignation. For FReepers, Lott has maintained and will continue to have a good voting record and if Lott can become a quiet back bencher, no FReeper will speak out against him.

As far as the media is concerned, House Speaker Denny Hastert is a non-entity, House Majority Leader Dick Armey has retired and House Whip Tom DeLay does his best work beneath the media's radar. By default, Trent Lott has been the media's congressional GOP focal point (perhaps the largest outside contributing factor requiring Lott's removal). As soon as Trent is removed as the focal point, the media will largely go away.

I don't believe Republicans are engaged in trying to outdo liberals in outrage. But because of past and continuing media bias regarding the GOP's stance on race, the GOP is compelled to restate our stance - and to restate it loudly and often. Republicans are not outraged by Lott's remarks, they are embarrassed. And Republicans are embarrassesd, not because Lott's remarks or Lott himself are racist. Republicans are justifiably embarrassed that their Leader is capable of such a insensitive and amateurish comment (and lazy, too - repeating portions of 20 year old, earlier speech commending Thurmond).

There's no chum-filled water and GOPers calling for Lott to step down are NOT agreeing that Lott or the GOP is racist. We're saying, "Lott's a moron and we as a party would be dumber still by keeping him in his post as Senate leader."

There will be no phase II.