…is forgiveable for most, but not for a former Vice Presidential candidate and possibly future presidential candidate.

On This Week this morning, Joe Lieberman said that someone with Trent Lott’s views shouldn’t be in the line of presidential succession.

Don’t worry, Joe, he’s not.

Senate Majority Leader is not in the line of succession at all, let alone high in it.

The order is:

Vice President
Speaker of the House
President Pro Tempore of the Senate
Secretary of State

and then down the line of cabinet secretaries.

Here’s the current batting order.

Interestingly, while Lott is not in the line of succession, Bob “Sheets” Byrd is President Pro Tem, at least until the new Senate is sworn in in January.

Mark Steyn explains.

For a century and a half, race is one issue the Republicans have been right on– or, at the very minimum, less wrong. We’ve grown used to the Democrats’ strange black-is-white world, where Al Gore apparently genuinely believes his father was a civil rights crusader rather than a civil rights obstacle. Segregation is the Democrats’ history, and for Trent Lott to give them an excuse to dump it on the GOP doorstep is all the reason Republicans needed to be done with him once and for all.

Mark Steyn explains.

For a century and a half, race is one issue the Republicans have been right on– or, at the very minimum, less wrong. We’ve grown used to the Democrats’ strange black-is-white world, where Al Gore apparently genuinely believes his father was a civil rights crusader rather than a civil rights obstacle. Segregation is the Democrats’ history, and for Trent Lott to give them an excuse to dump it on the GOP doorstep is all the reason Republicans needed to be done with him once and for all.

Mark Steyn explains.

For a century and a half, race is one issue the Republicans have been right on– or, at the very minimum, less wrong. We’ve grown used to the Democrats’ strange black-is-white world, where Al Gore apparently genuinely believes his father was a civil rights crusader rather than a civil rights obstacle. Segregation is the Democrats’ history, and for Trent Lott to give them an excuse to dump it on the GOP doorstep is all the reason Republicans needed to be done with him once and for all.

As usual, the Weekly World News has the story that others are afraid to report. The Administration has won the support of space aliens in its war on Saddam.

While the Bush administration is elated over the aliens’ willingness to help overthrow Saddam, some critics remain skeptical about America’s newest allies.

“It sounds like Bush is getting desperate,” says one skeptic. “Little green men wanting to fight side by side with America? It’s like Bush can’t get the support of the other countries on our world, so he’s counting on getting help from other worlds.”

Hey, we’ll take our friends wherever we can get them, these days. They sound like a great bunch of folks.

“They love Americans. Everything about Saddam Hussein disgusts them. They want to fight alongside of our troops and drink beer with them when it?s all over.”

Chug a lug.

And after what Saddam has been putting the Iraqi people through, the aliens’ comparatively gentle @n@l probings will seem like paradise.

Columbia has rescinded Bellesiles’ Bancroft Prize.

Adding injury to insult, he has to reimburse the prize money as well.

Wonder if Judge Reinhardt reads the NYT?

Tom Edsall and Dan Balz at the WaPo have noticed that many conservatives are more upset with Lott than the liberals are.

As I’ve noted a number of times, that’s because the Democrats want Lott to stay in power, where he’ll continue to be putty in Tom Daschle’s hands, and a symbol of the supposed racism of conservatives and Republicans. The focus of the article is on the symbolism issue, though–there’s no mention of how inept he is, and always has been.

I also found this bit bizarre.

Republicans, more than Democrats, are traditionally more reluctant to force leaders out of office. “We don’t kill our kings,” one Republican operative said, noting the respect for hierarchal authority within the GOP.

This is simply nonsense. Which party was it that forced its compromised President to resign? Which one dragged the entire country through sordid mud for months to avoid doing so? Did these guys sleep through the Clinton impeachment saga?

Pascagoula (APUPI) December 14, 2002

In a shocking and bizarre new twist in the ongoing Segre-Gate scandal, an increasingly desperate Senator Chester “Trent” Lott announced today that he is actually an African American.

In a prelude to his upcoming appearance on BET, he appeared at a sparsely-attended press conference outside his local office, resplendent in a colorful daishiki, with his formerly shellacked hair frizzing freely in a three-foot diameter “afro-style” hairdo.

“As you all know, Bill Clinton was the first black president. Well, I’m the first black Senate Majority Leader. It’s truly a proud day for the Republican Party and the African-American community.”

“I know that many of you will be surprised to learn that I was ‘passing’ all of these years. It was a deep, dark family secret.”

“My great-great grandmother was a house nigra on a plantation outside of Biloxi. My great-grandfather was a mullatto, my grandmother was a quadroon, and my mother was an octaroon, which makes me a hexidecaroon. As all of you from hereabouts know, just a touch of one hair of the tarbrush means that I can never be truly white.”

“I have to say that it’s quite a relief to finally let my true nature come out after all these years.”

“Every morning it used to take me over an hour to apply a fresh coat of lacquer to my hair, to keep it under control.”

“The ‘Singing Senators’ will finally be fully integrated, and my deep rich bass voice can harmonize fully and freely, in pride of my heritage. I’ll be able to tap my feet in actual rhythm with the music as I vocalize, without any more fear of giving myself away.”

When he came to the end of the formal statement, he repeated it in Swahili, Mandinka, and Ibo, followed by a tongue-clicking rendition in the language of the South African !Kung bushmen.

In response to questions as to whether he was simply pandering in order to pathetically cling to power, he appeared shocked and angered.

“It pains me to even hear such a question.”

“This isn’t about power. It’s about bonding with my community. That’s why as soon as the Senate goes back into session in January, I’m going to sponsor a bill to make Kwanzaa an official government holiday, and move to put Martin Luther King’s face on the twenty dollar bill. For too long has our currency been sullied by the face of that redneck Andy Jackson.”

Calls to the office of the Congressional Black Caucus to determine if he had yet joined were unreturned.

(Copyright 2002 by Rand Simberg)

Pascagoula (APUPI) December 14, 2002

In a shocking and bizarre new twist in the ongoing Segre-Gate scandal, an increasingly desperate Senator Chester “Trent” Lott announced today that he is actually an African American.

In a prelude to his upcoming appearance on BET, he appeared at a sparsely-attended press conference outside his local office, resplendent in a colorful daishiki, with his formerly shellacked hair frizzing freely in a three-foot diameter “afro-style” hairdo.

“As you all know, Bill Clinton was the first black president. Well, I’m the first black Senate Majority Leader. It’s truly a proud day for the Republican Party and the African-American community.”

“I know that many of you will be surprised to learn that I was ‘passing’ all of these years. It was a deep, dark family secret.”

“My great-great grandmother was a house nigra on a plantation outside of Biloxi. My great-grandfather was a mullatto, my grandmother was a quadroon, and my mother was an octaroon, which makes me a hexidecaroon. As all of you from hereabouts know, just a touch of one hair of the tarbrush means that I can never be truly white.”

“I have to say that it’s quite a relief to finally let my true nature come out after all these years.”

“Every morning it used to take me over an hour to apply a fresh coat of lacquer to my hair, to keep it under control.”

“The ‘Singing Senators’ will finally be fully integrated, and my deep rich bass voice can harmonize fully and freely, in pride of my heritage. I’ll be able to tap my feet in actual rhythm with the music as I vocalize, without any more fear of giving myself away.”

When he came to the end of the formal statement, he repeated it in Swahili, Mandinka, and Ibo, followed by a tongue-clicking rendition in the language of the South African !Kung bushmen.

In response to questions as to whether he was simply pandering in order to pathetically cling to power, he appeared shocked and angered.

“It pains me to even hear such a question.”

“This isn’t about power. It’s about bonding with my community. That’s why as soon as the Senate goes back into session in January, I’m going to sponsor a bill to make Kwanzaa an official government holiday, and move to put Martin Luther King’s face on the twenty dollar bill. For too long has our currency been sullied by the face of that redneck Andy Jackson.”

Calls to the office of the Congressional Black Caucus to determine if he had yet joined were unreturned.

(Copyright 2002 by Rand Simberg)

Pascagoula (APUPI) December 14, 2002

In a shocking and bizarre new twist in the ongoing Segre-Gate scandal, an increasingly desperate Senator Chester “Trent” Lott announced today that he is actually an African American.

In a prelude to his upcoming appearance on BET, he appeared at a sparsely-attended press conference outside his local office, resplendent in a colorful daishiki, with his formerly shellacked hair frizzing freely in a three-foot diameter “afro-style” hairdo.

“As you all know, Bill Clinton was the first black president. Well, I’m the first black Senate Majority Leader. It’s truly a proud day for the Republican Party and the African-American community.”

“I know that many of you will be surprised to learn that I was ‘passing’ all of these years. It was a deep, dark family secret.”

“My great-great grandmother was a house nigra on a plantation outside of Biloxi. My great-grandfather was a mullatto, my grandmother was a quadroon, and my mother was an octaroon, which makes me a hexidecaroon. As all of you from hereabouts know, just a touch of one hair of the tarbrush means that I can never be truly white.”

“I have to say that it’s quite a relief to finally let my true nature come out after all these years.”

“Every morning it used to take me over an hour to apply a fresh coat of lacquer to my hair, to keep it under control.”

“The ‘Singing Senators’ will finally be fully integrated, and my deep rich bass voice can harmonize fully and freely, in pride of my heritage. I’ll be able to tap my feet in actual rhythm with the music as I vocalize, without any more fear of giving myself away.”

When he came to the end of the formal statement, he repeated it in Swahili, Mandinka, and Ibo, followed by a tongue-clicking rendition in the language of the South African !Kung bushmen.

In response to questions as to whether he was simply pandering in order to pathetically cling to power, he appeared shocked and angered.

“It pains me to even hear such a question.”

“This isn’t about power. It’s about bonding with my community. That’s why as soon as the Senate goes back into session in January, I’m going to sponsor a bill to make Kwanzaa an official government holiday, and move to put Martin Luther King’s face on the twenty dollar bill. For too long has our currency been sullied by the face of that redneck Andy Jackson.”

Calls to the office of the Congressional Black Caucus to determine if he had yet joined were unreturned.

(Copyright 2002 by Rand Simberg)