LOTT TO BE RULES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN?

Roll Call (through Drudge)

[RobFromGa]

BOOBY PRIZE: Republicans to offer Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) the chairmanship of the Rules and Administration Committee, ROLL CALL is set to report... MORE

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who was in line to head the Rules panel in the 108th Congress, has agreed to step aside to allow Lott to retain some institutional power...

[Eva]

I know that Lott has been spineless in the past, but I am hoping that he grown one through this latest debacle. I am hoping that he will now have a personal score to settle with the Democrats.

I am happy to see Lott replaced, but I think that giving him a non-influencial position like the rules committee would denigrate the Democrat complaints against Lott, to a degree.

[Redleg Duke]

Actually, this may not be too bad a move. The RAT attack gerbels will be squealing, keeping their hypocracy on the front burner, giving the American people a constant reminder of them.

Look beyond the knee jerk reaction everyone. Lott is much more valuable to us as a lightning rod for the RAT hypocrits!

[teletech]

LOTT TO BE RULES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN?

He might as well be Majority Leader! Power sharing here we come!

[TLBSHOW]

Senator Lott is not a racist. You would be truly hard pressed to find a racist in the U.S. Congress in either party. No really. He said something very stupid, and perhaps even more stupid, he did so while cameras were rolling. When he projected Mississippi pride for being one of the few states that voted for Strom Thurman in 1948, he wasn't endorsing the Dixiecrat platform of racial segregation - even Strom Thurman himself long since repudiated that. He was trying to flatter a 100 year old man.

Lott is guilty of an insensitivity that perhaps is too common too among white politicians. But it is a sin of the brain and not one of the heart. What did Lott say?

SID JOHNSON

[End The Hypocrisy]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,74561,00.html

Trent Lott will also hold seats on the Senate finance, commerce and intelligence committees. The Rules committee controls the assignment and administration of the prized office space on the Senate side of the Capitol, resolves disputes on Senate rules and procedures and controls credentials for the Senate.

[wardaddy]

Very nice wit on an otherwise zzzzzzzzzzzzzz thread of same ol same ol.

[hgro]

The BOOB gets the booby prize.

[mwl1]

Byrd cannot be pro tempore, it always goes to the senior member of the majority party. It will be Ted Stevens of Alaska.

[mwl1]

Nonsense. Senate Rules Committee has none of the power that its House counterpart does. The two chambers are radically different. This is largely a ceremonial and face-saving appointment.

[Carry_Okie]

Here is a rule I want: treaties are to be ratified ONLY by recorded vote when the ENTIRE Senate is present.

OK, so I can dream.

[RobFromGa]

OK, Jesse, I'll wear this stupid Kwaanza hat one more day! Then the gloves come off!

[OldFriend]

Was listening to Rush this afternoon and he said that Byrd is eligilble to be voted pro tempore........

[deport]

Was listening to Rush this afternoon and he said that Byrd is eligilble to be voted pro tempore........

So is every other senator....... so what?

president pro tempore - A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.

[mwl1]

Rush is wrong. The pro tempore is always from the majority party.

[TLBSHOW]

Trent Lott will also hold seats on the Senate finance, commerce and intelligence committees.

Not bad for so called racist is it? LOLROF

[octobersky]

LOL

[RobbyS]

Santorum said he was loyal and now he is proving it. Many Senators will have good feelings about Santorum. That's money in the bank.

[b4its2late]

Hope he drives all the dems on the committee nuts.....

[evad]

Hey gang..
this deal was cut "before" he resigned.

[CA Conservative]

Rush is wrong. The pro tempore is always from the majority party.

No, he is not wrong. There is no constitutional requirement that the President pro tem of the Senate belongs to the majority party, or that he is the longest serving member. Majority Leader of the house and Senate are not Constitutional offices, and are only voted upon by the members of the majority party, i.e, Republicans. Speaker of the House and President Pro Tem are Constitutional offices, and are elected by the committee of the whole ( in other words, all members of the House or Senate).

As a practical matter, these positions are always held by a member of the majority party because no Republican would vote for a Dem majority leader, and vice versa.

The truth is, there is no Constitutional requirement that either the Speaker of the House or the President Pro Tem of the Senate be a Senator or Representative. There was some concern at one point that if the Dems won back control of the House, they might elect Beelzebubba as Speaker...