Trent Lott -- "The baggage of bigotry" hiding in plain sight

 
What in the name of 'a just God" was Trent Lott doing up there in front of the world, as master of ceremonies for Bush's inauguration. This is the one day that America really needs to show its best face -- not its "blackface."  Lott was ousted from his job as Senate Majority Leader in December 2002 after he said at the since-deceased Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday bash that if Thurmond had been elected president when he was running as a segregationist in 1948, "we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."  The solution that made sense at the time was to oust him as majority leader. even though his sins were not deemed of the level that he should or would resign his Senate seat. Why? Because sensible people didn't want somebody with a background like Lott's in such a visible role as the No. 1 Senate leader. And yet, here is Lott -- out of 295 million Americans -- whose face is on every TV network from Fox News to al-Jazeera, introducing Bush for the "fresh start" of his second term. Wasn't the idea to keep him hidden in the attic, at least for a while? Bush's best line of the day was when he said "our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time." And yet he allowed himself to be introduced by a 5-piece Samsonite set of bigotry. Talk about undercutting one's message. [more] (maybe that was the point; talking to his Base - dog whistle style.)

• Pictured above: U.S. President George W. Bush laughs during remarks by Senator Trent Lott (R-Ms) after taking the oath of office on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 20, 2005.[more]
  
• Lott interview with the "southern Partisan" [here]
• After his inauguration, Bush takes direction from Billy Graham [more]