Who'd have thought something as innocuous as a birthday party for an outgoing centagenarian senator could yank Senate giant Trent Lott from the helm of the majority? I just happened to channel surf up to the birthday celebration on CSPAN last weekend and I must admit that I barely remember Trent Lott's statement about how the country would have been better off if Thurmond would have won his 1948 Presidential election bid. It sounded a lot like, "Blah, blah quip, yadda... mah venerated colleague... blah, nudge-nudge, better off if yak and now let's have a hand for..."

The whole thing put me in mind of a watered down Hollywood roasting, only lamer, but I was drawn to it - sort of like a sidewalk bystander watching the aftermath of a minor traffic wreck. It was about what you'd expect, a good natured, bi-partisan send off for the senior senator from South Carolina complete with a Hayman fire sized birthday cake blazing away with 100 of those *really* funny candles that won't blow out. The organizers of this function somehow missed an opportunity to get Terry Barton to wheel out the cake. That would have been right in keeping with the tacky tone of the affair, but I guess Ms. Barton was otherwise occupied last week.

I still can't figure what possessed Sen. Thurmond's daughter, Julie, to use the occasion to publicly announce that she was pregnant. The senator never batted an eye at the news of the impending birth of a grandchild. However, Ol' Strom was fully engaged when a Marilyn Monroe impersonator took the podium to do a breathy rendition of "Happy Birthday, (Mr. Senator)" a la the trampy speed-fer-breakfast/seconal-with-nightcaps performance 40 years hence from the real Monroe to her boyfriend, Jack.

My affection for our own "Daily Pic" and the sentiments behind it notwithstanding, I winced a bit at the sight of the spectacle and moved on. It was only borderline sleazy, a lightweight abashment that Trent Lott had every reason to think was behind him by last weekend. So imagine Lott's dejection as Tuesday rolled around and the weblog whisperings of Lott's allegedly abiding racism emerged full bloom into the mainstream. He had to be wondering just what all the flap was about. Bush smacked him hard midweek an now Nickles nails him for the knockout punch on Sunday.

So, is it Merry Christmas or Sayonara, Mr Lott? I can understand why the Republicans had better give it some serious consideration, but I don't give even the slightest damn about this segregation swivet as long as 100% of Lott's colleagues and critics, alike, are still advocating for my own slavery. A pox on every one of their houses, I say.

Yet, whadda pisser at a time when his party has such a great game awaiting it, Lott will probably be sitting it out in the rank and file instead of leading the charge. Like Patton's rueful reflection, "all because I slapped a soldier," would come Lott's, "all because I made an offhand comment to flatter someone who would have been just as satisfied with a slice of birthday cake and a little more jiggle from the Marilyn impersonator."