Trent Lott Blames Frist

Trent Lott has a new book in which he blames Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for Lott's having been dumped from that position in the aftermath of the November, 2002 elections. According to the AP story:

Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott blames his fall from power in 2002 on a “personal betrayal” by an ambitious Sen. Bill Frist, his successor, adding in a new book that President Bush, Colin Powell and other GOP associates played a role.

“If Frist had not announced exactly when he did, as the fire was about to burn out, I would still be majority leader of the Senate today,” Lott said in “Herding Cats, A Life in Politics.”

So, if Lott is to be believed, he'd still be in charge if only Frist hadn't announced he wanted to be Majority Leader at that precise moment. After all, "the fire [about Lott's statement that segretationist Strom Thurmond should have been president] was about to burn out."

Somehow I remember things a bit differently. It seemed to me the fire burned out because Frist (anybody, really) announced he wanted the post. The Republicans jumped at the chance to dump Lott, because he was becoming a liability to the Republican Party.

He had been making deals with the Democrats, including what was for me the last straw: delaying the changeover from Democrat-controlled Senate committees to Republican-controlled committees during the post-election portion of the Senate term. This unnecessarily allowed the Democrats to continue obstructing judicial nominees by keeping hold of the Judiciary Committee. Lott had become too entrenched in the Good-Ole-Boy, glad-handing persona of too many long-term legislators, and this kept him from doing what was needed as Republican Party leader in the Senate.

It was time for Lott to go. It was his own fault. His statements about Srom Thurmond simply provided the excuse, so all that was needed was Lott's replacement. Frist made that possible.

It appears that Trent Lott, in his new book, has shown that he's still incapable of serious introspection or self-analysis. He seeks to blame his troubles on others, and that's a shame.