All Americans lose to a degree when a deal-maker like Lott leaves Congress. The art of the deal is the art of compromise, and compromise keeps the wheels of progress rolling.
However, Lott is one of the venerable, 'old-school' Republican icons, one who marshaled the Bush plan through Congress. Given the GOP's downward spiral of the last seven years even some conservatives are happy to see Lott retire.
So are the Democrats:
The unexpected retirement of Mississippi Republican Trent Lott gives Democrats another opportunity to expand their one-vote Senate majority in next year's elections.Lott, 66, the chamber's minority whip, is the sixth Republican senator to announce his retirement; he said he will resign by the end of this year.
Democrats have made gains in traditionally Republican Mississippi, winning control of the state Senate earlier this month. Recruiting a high-profile U.S. Senate candidate, such as former Attorney General Michael Moore or former Governor Ronnie Musgrove, would give Democrats a chance to capture their first Senate seat in the state in almost 20 years, said Richard Forgette, chairman of the political science department at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.
``When it's the right Democrat in the right circumstances, a Democrat can win statewide in Mississippi,'' Forgette said.
Some good Democratic names are being tossed around by Forgette as a possible blue replacement for Lott. It's renewing to see this country moving away from the family-values hypocrites, towards a progressive future again.
The suddenness of Lott's departure is a mystery -- but who cares, really. Would anyone be surprised to hear a week from now that Lott has been caught doing the wide-stance straddle in a public restroom, or boinking his illegal housekeeper?
Who cares! Flush the toilet and move on. We've got a country to rebuild.
