Just when the MSM focus had fixed on the Democrats’ culture of corruption and business-as-usual, along come Beltway Republicans to remind us of how lame the GOP leadership is.

Trent Lott is back.

Flashback 2002: I called Trent Lott the Republican Party’s eternal Maalox moment.

Nothing’s changed.

Meanwhile, RNC chair Mel Martinez is demonizing grass-roots conservatives who support enforcing immigration laws and borders.

More lameness.

John Hawkins asks: “Does the GOP Need Another Thumpin’ in 2008 to Get the Message?”

Apparently so. But John thinks it’s not too late:

Make no mistake about it, the GOP base is upset, demoralized and disappointed in the performance of the Republican Party, and if the columns, blog posts and comments I’m seeing around the net are any indication, a lot of conservatives still aren’t convinced that anyone in Washington is listening to them. That’s understandable because conservatives were pointing out many of the problems that cost the GOP the election in 2006 for YEARS without anyone on Capitol Hill, including the President, seeming to pick up on it or care.

Conservatives insisted that we stop wasting money and we got a Bridge to Nowhere. We insisted that we take an enforcement first position on illegal immigration and we got an amnesty plan that was worse than anyone had even imagined a year or two beforehand. We heard calls for ethics reform and we got the Republican leadership complaining because the FBI searched the office of a Democrat with bribe money in his freezer. With that kind of performance, is it any surprise that the base wasn’t there for Washington Republicans when it counted, at election time? For too long, Republicans in Washington have lived by one principle, “What are they gonna do, vote for the Democrats?” and it finally caught up with them in 2006.

But, the good news is that it’s not too late. Republicans in the House can still bring in leaders like Representatives Mike Pence (R.-Ind.) and John Shadegg (R.-Ariz.), who can get the party back to basics. In addition, Pence has vowed to fight the Senate’s amnesty bill if he’s elected minority leader and Sen. Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.) is trying to organize a filibuster of the bill in the Senate. Moreover, Republicans in Congress are going to have a lot of opportunities to articulate their views and prove their mettle as they oppose the tsunami of bad legislation that will be pushed by Democrats in Congress and the son of “Read My-Lips.”

If Republicans once again prove that they’re the party of Ronald Reagan, not the party of “compassionate conservatism,” the base and the American people will support them again. But Republicans in Washington shouldn’t forget for one minute that the confidence level in them is very low, even amongst their own biggest supporters, so they’re going to have to prove themselves every step of the way.

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Trent Lott is bombing. John Little has the right-side round-up. A sample:

The American Pundit: We really needed someone who is quoted on Porkbusters’ front page as saying “I’ll just say this about the so-called porkbusters. I’m getting damn tired of hearing from them. They have been nothing but trouble ever since Katrina”.

Right Voices: Between this and Mel Martinez, we’re really on a roll.

PostWatch: Combined with other inspiring actions like the Sen. Mel Amnesty Martinez becoming the head of the Republican National Committee, it appears the GOP has decided it needs some time to recover from the burdens of leadership. Say, ten or fifteen years.

Captain’s Quarters: We sent Republicans to clean up Congress, not to clean up for themselves in porkfests that rival anything that came before them. Trent Lott represents the worst of that class, and the mere idea that he remains in consideration for a leadership position after his commentary this year proves that the GOP hasn’t listened hard enough.

Free Republic: We suck.

The Bidinotto Blog: Trent Lott, just elected Senate minority whip by his GOP colleagues, represents the worst of the old-boy network in the Republican Party: an aphilosophical, wheeler-dealer, pork-peddling pragmatist with a long, ugly record of compromises, sell-outs, and “me-too’ing” in the face of liberal Democrat intiatives. Lott wouldn’t know a moral principle if it walked up and spit in his face.

Mary Katharine Ham: “Welcome to “Survivor: The Isle of Crappy Republican Leadership.”