Those Ruthless Republicans

So how is the principled ouster of the Senate Majority Leader by his own party playing in the New York Times? Undoubtedly frustrated by not being able to hang Lott as an albatross around the GOP, the Times is playing Lott's ouster as another cynical episode of "The Mayberry Machiavellis." The GOP isn't principled; it's ruthless, even and especially in dealing with its own members who might scare off suburbanites, including soccer moms, in the next election cycle. President Bush has accomplished his first stunning execution Machiavelli-style. (Did the esteemed Times forget about Paul O'Neill already?)

Elisabeth Bumiller credits the administration for orchestrating Lott's ouster. According to her analysis, "By the end of the week. . . .Washington's political professionals were left awed [by the administration's swift execution of the unanimously elected Majority Leader]." She quotes one of those professionals as saying, "the president had ruthlessly maneuvered to contain a stain on Republicans that was threatening his own agenda." Next, she quotes Bush family friend, Democrat Robert Strauss, "They've got a skilled surgeon coming in to run the Senate, and they used a surgeon's skill to remove Lott without leaving any fingerprints." Give Bumiller credit: she knows where to go for a good quote. Continuing with the surgical metaphor, James Carville says, "It was a clean extraction."

Bumiller emphasizes the single statement made by Bush condemning segregation and then the following weekly silence by White House officials on the matter with the exception of Ari Fleisher who repeated incessantly that the President thought that Lott could stay on as Majority Leader. All the while that Fleisher was indicating executive forgiveness, Mr. Bush let his original statement stand and then deployed Colin Powell and his brother to continue the denouncement of Mr. Lott's remarks.

Maureen Dowd offers a variation on this theme. She remarks that with one fell swoop, the President and his hatchet-man, Karl Rove, destroyed Lott, Hillary Clinton (who will have to run against Frist in 2008), and the President's own brother, Jeb (who will lose the GOP nomination to Frist in 2008). The superficial Dowd, characteristically taken with the surgeon-Senator's good looks, speculates that the micromanaging Rove is already grumbling about Frist's ambition.

It can't possibly be that Bush really thinks that segregation is unjust. Oh well, all in a day's work for Howell Raines. Now there's a Machiavellian for you.

10:30 AM (EST) -- The New York Times seems to agree with Pat Buchanan that Bush unfairly let his Majority Leader hang out to dry after uttering pro-segregationist remarks. How's that for strange bedfellows? (Buchanan was just speaking on the McLaughlin Group.)