Surely They Don't Mean *That* Trent Lott?

"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."

Yes, apparently that Trent Lott is back in the public eye!  None other than the blatantly racist United States Senator Chester Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi has nominated himself (how selfless, Trent!) to be Minority Whip for the Republicans in that hallowed chamber.  He'll face-off against Lamar (Lamar!) Alexander from Tennessee.

Insider newspaper (but a must-read) The Hill gives us all the dirt, by Elana Schor:

After keeping his plans close to the vest since Election Day, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) formally declared his bid for minority whip on Monday evening.

Lott was forced to step down as Senate majority leader in 2002 after comments he made at former Sen. Strom Thurmond’s (R-S.C.) birthday party touched off a racially charged controversy and the White House threw its backing to now-Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

Well that is interesting.  Read the whole story here:link.  Hey, I'm not a Republican consultant, I'm not an expert on Republican politics, and I'm certainly not one to say what happens in Republican circles (I'm not even one to say what should happen in Democratic circles, really...).  But the day after the GOP announces their new Chairman to what had to be one of the most lukewarm receptions ever, do they really want one of their most public faces in the Senate to be... Trent?