By: E&P Staff U.S. Sen. Trent Lott will be remembered as much for what he calls an "innocent and thoughtless remark" as he will for his role as one of the most influential politicians of the modern era, an article in one of the largest papers in his home state of Mississippi suggested today. .
"Lott, the consummate insider, became an instant outsider - even with Republican leadership and President Bush - after racially charged remarks five years ago at the 100th birthday party of former segregationist presidential candidate Sen. Strom Thurmond," the Sun Herald in Biloxi recalled.
"At Thurmond's party, then Senate Majority Leader Lott joked that Mississippi supported Thurmond's 1948 run for president on the Dixiecrat ticket and that 'if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years.'
"A media frenzy ensued, as did calls for Lott to resign. He didn't, but he did abdicate his position as leader of the Senate GOP.
"In his 2005 autobiography 'Herding Cats,' Lott blamed much of the problem on an out-of-control media that overblew comments he meant as a joke and the betrayal of fellow Republicans including Sen. Bill Frist, who took his place as majority leader.
"Lott claimed that President Bush and his brother, Jeb Bush, and even then-Secretary of State Colin Powell either deserted him after the remarks or helped fan the flames."
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