[HoundsTooth_BP]

Do you think that the democrats will do a better job than a republican senate? We need Lott right now to get our agenda through, we can always sack him later when our victory is in hand. Throwing him out now is just playing to the democrats and shooting ourselves in the foot.

[wretchard]

I don't relish the prospect of a Democrat-controlled Senate. But President Bush could (albeit with difficulty) prosecute the Afghan campaign and build up in Arabia despite the Democratically controlled Senate because he had moral authority.

What Trent Lott is asking the President to do is squander his moral authority and submit to blackmail in exchange for a slender one-vote majority. If the Republican party had 60 Senators it would have far more to lose than it does now. With 60 Senators you can really control the upper chamber, revoke treaties, appoint judges, etc. With a simple majority, nothing much is guaranteed.

I understand your point and share your disgust at having to lose (if necessary) a hard won majority. Some people fault Lott for allegedly being a "racist". Well maybe, maybe not. But if his blackmail threat is real, he is a real skunk and not the kind of person you want in the same foxhole.