Vacant Lott

Instant Replay isn't sure what Senator Trent Lott was thinking, either. But we are sure glad to hear this news: Bush Assails Lott's Remarks as 'Offensive' and 'Wrong'. Thank you, Mr President! Someone in the administration realizes that the only possible way to exorcise the shadow of Lott's comment is to castigate Lott publically and distance the party from the remarks. This would have been more appropriate 2 or 3 days ago, and Lott's apology would have been more appropriate 4 or 5 days ago, but its much, much better than never.

Bush chose the perfect forum to make his rebuke: "Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive and it is wrong," Mr. Bush said in remarks to religious leaders in Philadelphia. "He has apologized, and rightly so." That Mr. Bush took the rare and extraordinary step of publicly criticizing a senior Congressional leader of his own party partly reflected deep Republican concern over the potential for political damage caused by Mr. Lott's gaffe. Republicans and Democrats alike have said Mr. Lott's comments would make it more difficult for Republicans to attract black and other minority voters, which has been a goal of President Bush.

The great upside of this whole debacle is for bloggers. Lott's misspeech was largely winked at by the national media, who were perhaps gunshy of picking up the torch after being labeled as scandal-seekers over the past few years. Instead, the people who built the furor around this were online. This may represent the finest hour of the blogmos, which escalated an issue to the point where the media and politics were forced to pick it up.

Rushing to Lambast Lott
One more name pun... "What Lott said is utterly indefensible and stupid," Rush Limbaugh declared..

OK, I know you want equal time: Hannity tried to get Lott off the hook by playing the Clinton card:
"We have back in October of this year, William Jefferson Clinton, in Arkansas saying wonderful things, what a remarkable man J. William Fulbright, former senator from Arkansas is, a known segregationist. He gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award, a known segregationist, one of 19 senators who issued a statement entitled 'The Southern Manifesto', condemning the '54 Supreme Court decision of Brown vs. Board of Education, defending segregation. Why hasn't anyone condemned Bill Clinton for doing far worse than what Trent Lott has done here?"

The Democrats who couldn't be bothered to comment are now body-slamming Lott all over the place. John Kerry has called for Lott to give up his leadership post (what constituency could he have his eye on?) Ted Kennedy and Joe Lieberman have hit Lott. Terry McAuliffe is demanding that President Bush denounce Lott's remarks. Jesse Jackson has entered the fray. People for the American Way has called for Lott to resign, as has the New York Times editorial page. The outrage industry is in full swing.

Hence Bush's castigation.

Bush was interrupted repeatedly by applause and ``amens.''
During the same appearance - it was in front of religious leaders, you recall - Bush unveiled new rules for the faith-based initiative. Instant Replay applauds his removal of the blockage of funding to faith-based organizations that discriminate based on faith. Bush appropriately turned the ACLU-esque rhetoric on its head, saying, "The days of discriminating against religious groups just because they are religious are coming to an end.''