On December 5, 2002, at the 100th birthday party for Senator Strom Thurmond, who in 1948 had run for president as a segregationist, Repblican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said,

"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either."

A blog-fueled firestorm ensued. (Credit to Josh Marshall for banging that drum). And Lott resigned as majority leader, though he remained a senator from Mississippi and became chairman of the powerful rules committee. Wikipedia describes the controversy this way:

After President Bush voiced his own harsh criticism of Lott's remarks ("Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive, and it is wrong. Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized and rightly so. Every day that our nation was segregated was a day our nation was unfaithful to our founding ideals"), Lott's position became untenable. It was obvious he would be unable to remain as Senate Republican Leader, although the official White House line was that Lott did not need to resign....

Under pressure from Senate colleagues, and having lost the support of the White House, Lott resigned as Senate Republican Leader on December 20, 2002. Bill Frist of Tennessee was later elected to the leadership position.

Today, nearly four years after Lott's Strom gaffe, the Republican caucus in the Senate rehabilitated Lott, electing him to be the Senate minority whip--the No. 2 Republican position in that body.

Three questions:

* Is what Lott said any less offensive--or insensitive today--than it was four years ago?

* Are the Senate Republicans so devoid of potential leaders that they have to bring back Lott?

* Is this a big kiss-off to the soon-to-be-gone GOP party chief Ken Mehlman's effort to reach out to blacks?

No. Yes. Yes.

Posted by David Corn at November 15, 2006 12:40 PM