WASHINGTON -- As so many Republicans turned from the embarrassment caused by Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi and began to give the appearance of really caring about racial harmony and equity, the leader of the party, President George W. Bush, took several actions that threaten to cast new darkness on the situation.
Bush has announced his intention of renominating judicial nominees who had been denied confirmation by the Democratic-controlled Senate of last year, including a couple of "poster boys" of the Old South, such as Mississippi judge Charles Pickering, who was the choice of Lott.
Bush has suggested that the nominees' positions on racial matters are not on his mind. Rather it is their general judicial restraint and socially conservative views that he is promoting, the president says. Try telling that to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.