The Black Republican

The last week has been so bad, how could it get any worse? Unfortunately, Stephen F. Hayes has an answer, and it sounds remarkably like 10,000 shoes dropping. (It also sounds remarkably like The Black Republican.)

SOMEONE PLEASE STOP HIM. The damage from Trent Lott's offensive comments 12 days ago could hardly be clearer. His support among Senate Republicans is crumbling. Even fellow GOP leaders, his strongest backers, have begun to consider ways to oust the majority leader and allow him to save face.

But judging from his remarks on Black Entertainment Television Monday night, the first stop of his Repent with Trent tour, Lott is as clueless as ever.

Hayes goes on to lament several of the now-familiar stock apologies and equivocations he has given to us five times. They remind me of a comment made by a Bush staffer after Treasury Secretary O�Neill was shown the door: watching him at a press conference, the staffer said of O�Neill, was like watching a baby play with a loaded revolver. Lott turns the gun into a crate of dynamite, and the baby has already blown away three limbs. The especially grating part is the baby is still laughing and happy that he's got one arm left to toodle with his "toys". But...

Yes, there's a 'but', and you'd better steel yourself for it: it gets worse.

BET host Ed Gordon asked the Senate majority leader about affirmative action. In that one moment, Lott cast aside years of principled Republican race-neutral policies to save his own ass. "I'm for that. I'm for affirmative action and I practice it," he pleaded, reiterating his painful claim of having many "good friends" who are black. "I'm an affirmative action participant."

This is nothing less than pathetic, blatant pandering. Lott would have us believe that although one week ago he was waxing nostalgic about the days of segregation, he is now in favor of racial preference programs for minorities. But there was more. Not content to embarrass just himself, Lott once again sought to make his problem the Republican party's problem. "It's not enough for me to do things differently," Lott said, when asked about the GOP Senate conference meeting scheduled for January 6. "I've got to get my colleagues to join me."

"Thanks for that bowl of tar, can you please pass the feathers? I think you missed a spot on me the first time 'round." Uuuggghh.

Of course, all this could have been averted - and perhaps even been a social and political improvement in our society - if Lott's cronies in the Senate weren't tripping over themselves for a week trying to defend him, instead of sending him and his anachronisms packing. Yet, even after all this, some continue to do so. Case in point:

Republican senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, one of the Senate's brightest and most articulate members, defended Lott this past weekend. He said Lott's remarks were a "wake-up call" for Republicans.

Saying this is a terrible disappointment is an understatement, especially when you consider Ms. Noonan's argument that Santorum is twenty years junior to Lott and should know better.