Headline Blast From The Past: Lott Backs Drive to Block All Clinton Nominations

Welcome back to Hypocrites R' Us: The Republican Superstore.

My friend and political sage Phil Chonigman forwards this headline from June of 1999:

Lott Backs drive to Block All Clinton Nominations

“Up or down? What the hell are they talking about when they played even dirtier just a few years ago?” said Phil, talking about the situation in which a few Right Wing Senators blocked the nomination of James Hormel to be U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg because of his sexual orientation.

“Making a sharp U-turn, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott has agreed to help block every pending Clinton administration nomination because the president appointed gay San Franciscan James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg during a Senate recess,” the article begins.

Clinton chief of staff John Podesta said Hormel would easily be confirmed if a vote were held, and so “the debate on Mr. Hormel is not about constitutional authority; it is about a very small number of Senators who believe that sexual orientation can disqualify an exceptional nominee from confirmation.”

The article further points out the hypocrisy of Republicans (at the time) complaining about President Clinton's recess appointments when Clinton made far less of those appointments than did Presidents Reagan or Bush before him.

I just love the Internet so much. It makes it much more difficult for Republicans to run from their lies and hypocrisy. Now, if only the mainstream media would discover how useful it is for research.