Trent Lott retiring
Posted by Moonage on 26 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: National Politics
Trent Lott is apparently going to retire before year’s end. According to the story, his primary concern is he needs to make more money. Now, being somewhat experienced in that aspect of DC politics, I can say for certain that is an honest concern. If a congressman’s sole income is his position in DC, he ain’t gonna make a whole lotta money. He’ll live ok, but he won’t get rich by any stretch of the imagination. Some peeps like to look at the raw numbers and make it sound like they’re all getting rich. However, the reality is the position comes with a lot of built in expenses that gossip org pages don’t ever take into consideration. Now, SOME congressmen do try to get rich solely from their position. However, that’s illegal and they sometimes get caught trying. Lott’s not willing to go that route apparently. His wife is apparently tired of all the demands and none of the security. The one thing he can count on, if he keeps his nose clean, is a good pension. Combine that with a fat lobbying income and he’ll do just fine. That’s the reality of the situation, contrary to what the common perception is. I have long advocated we pay our members a lot more than we do. Granted some lawmakers are duds, but they can be voted out. My problem is we keep losing good ones who know how to get things done. Having a bunch clueless idiots in DC does the country no good at all. Once again, that’s contrary to a lot of people’s opinions. But, it’s a fact. Some people think a totally grid-locked Congress is a good thing. I don’t. Having a productive Congress that addresses real issues and looks at them intelligently is what we need. However, at the pay scale we offer now, those people make a LOT more money in the private sector. Congress therefore usually only gets lawyers and the like. Those people LOVE the law process. What they usually do not have is experience with much of anything else. But, I am going off on a tangent right now. This post is about Trent Lott.
I didn’t particularly care for Trent’s style. I didn’t particularly care for the direction he pushed the Republican Party when he was in control. He pushed it too far to the right where a lot of his own party members didn’t belong. I think his demise in 2002 as leader was in large part because the people who could protect him didn’t. Lip service was given, but that’s all. Trent went down. Unfortunately, his replacement was worse and the party continued to drift. By the time Trent decided to retire, there was really nothing he was doing to lead as the #2 guy in the party. That is when it’s a good time to retire. If you’re not gonna do what it takes to better your party, at least make your wife happy. That’s a much more satisfying thing to do anyway.
And, unlike the usual masses who don’t take five minutes to figure out that lobbying is perfectly legal and ethical, I hope Trent does well lobbying and makes millions doing it.
I’m gonna bet this is the only place you’ll hear that too.
- Michelle Malkin has a good synopsis of what others are saying.
- I like Captain’s synopsis as well. He goes into more detail of why I didn’t like Lott’s leadership. I will disagree with Captain on one small, easy to make assumption. I don’t think this makes the Republican Caucus’s season any more difficult. If anything, illustrating it is now the party of change and the Democrats have refused to do so will help the party. Mississippi’s a strong Republican state. That seat’s not going anywhere.
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