And when did Lott show loyalty to him? When he said he wasn't going to bring anything up for a vote during a lame duck session after he knew how hard Bush worked during the campaign? How about during the week that Bush gave him to take care of this mess? Lott was too busy being on vacation to properly address a matter that he was undoubtedly told was important. Do you really think Bush would have gone out and rebuked Lott of Lott hadn't ignored the situation and pretended it wasn't important enough for him to interrupt his vacation?
I really don't understand why you are dragging President Bush into this mess. You want him to stand up for Lott? NO president should get involved in a senate leadership race. He has to work with whoever the SENATORS decide should be leader.
Lott handled this whole situation poorly, first by having his press office issue a flip statement, then by not caring enough to travel into town to publically appear before the people to apologize, and then by holding that press conference with all those tacky cheers in the background. IF he survives, he's going to be a weakened leader, but that's for the senators to decide, not President Bush, at least not publically.
When it is insufficient, insincere and inept.
I agree, and am surprised (not in a good way).
The president can end this simply by saying he accepts Lott's apology. Not to do so may well mean the president is playing (the wrong) politics with this issue...and he's going to get burned...big time.
What a mess.