ON LOTT’S APOLOGY: Bloggers with

ON LOTT’S APOLOGY: Bloggers with hit counts greater than mine have already commented on Trent Lott’s lukewarm apology — Josh Marshall, Glenn Reynolds, Andrew Sullivan, Virginial Postrel, etc. Howard Kurtz has a nice story on the metastory — the fact that it was “online pundits” that initially pushed the story forward, not the mainstream media. ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

ON LOTT'S APOLOGY: Bloggers with hit counts greater than mine have already commented on Trent Lott's lukewarm apology -- Josh Marshall, Glenn Reynolds, Andrew Sullivan, Virginial Postrel, etc. Howard Kurtz has a nice story on the metastory -- the fact that it was "online pundits" that initially pushed the story forward, not the mainstream media. The latter are now catching up -- click here and here. The fact that Lott issued this weak statement only a few hours after he again tried to dismiss the incident as in the spirit of "a lighthearted celebration." merely confirms what I said before: a) Lott doesn't get it when it comes to the substantive politics of race, and b) Lott is becoming increasingly tone-deaf as a party leader. As Robert George put it, he's gotta go.

ON LOTT’S APOLOGY: Bloggers with hit counts greater than mine have already commented on Trent Lott’s lukewarm apology Josh Marshall, Glenn Reynolds, Andrew Sullivan, Virginial Postrel, etc. Howard Kurtz has a nice story on the metastory — the fact that it was “online pundits” that initially pushed the story forward, not the mainstream media. The latter are now catching up — click here and here. The fact that Lott issued this weak statement only a few hours after he again tried to dismiss the incident as in the spirit of “a lighthearted celebration.” merely confirms what I said before: a) Lott doesn’t get it when it comes to the substantive politics of race, and b) Lott is becoming increasingly tone-deaf as a party leader. As Robert George put it, he’s gotta go.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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