Here’s an interesting lesson for Republican leaders. If you’re gonna stab somebody in the back, make sure they can’t pull out the knife and get their revenge :

When Sen. Trent Lott decides which GOP presidential candidate to support in 2008, it apparently will not be Sen. Bill Frist, the Tennessee Republican who Lott says betrayed him at a low moment in his political career.

Asked Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether Frist, who challenged and succeeded Lott as Senate majority leader in 2002, has the character to be president, Lott paused before answering.

“I think I’d have to think about that,” said Lott, R-Miss.
. . .
In a new book, “Herding Cats, A Lifetime in Politics,” Lott fingers Frist as one of the “main manipulators” in the events the led to Lott’s fall from power.
. . .
Lott wrote that Frist’s actions amounted to a “personal betrayal.”

But Frist’s Machiavellian maneuvering isn’t Lott’s only target. In his book, he also has this to say (clip at Crooks & Liars) :

In the summer of 2002…the president began lobbying for an open-ended resolution empowering him to wage war in Iraq…Bush had made clear his intentions to wage war on Iraq in several of our private meetings.

And Lott isn’t helping the President with his Cindy Sheehan problem either :

Even those defending Bush tempered their support with expressions of concern about what they described as a disconnect between the administration and the public over the U.S. role in Iraq.

Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the former majority leader, said that his constituents, despite their “very pro-military” feelings, were beginning to question whether the United States was doing enough to help establish an independent Iraqi government and make enough progress to allow troop withdrawals anytime soon.

“They still believe very strongly in President Bush,” Lott said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” citing recent conversations with frustrated constituents. “But they have a right to ask their elected officials, you know, ‘What is the plan?’”

Trent Lott is seriously off-message and with good reason. Why should he bend over backwards to defend the men who destroyed his career? With so many sour grapes, I can’t help but think of another Latin saying : In Vino Veritas.