New Treasury Secretary nominee John W. Snow is resigning his membership in Augusta National Golf Club. He may be resigning to protest the club’s stand on disallowing women members. But it looks like Snow is trying to distance himself from controversy.

Sure, former CBS exec Thomas H. Wyman recently resigned, too. The difference is Wyman didn’t time his resignation with a nomination to government office. Now, instead of appearing to be a man with principles, wrong or right, Snow looks like a two-faced phony. Welcome to politics.

Trent Lott said, “I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.” As I pointed out in a previous post, Strom Thurmond is a hardcore racist. He ran for President in 1948 as a segregationist, saying, “All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches.”

So I’m curious Mr. Lott, what did you mean when you said, “we wouldn’t have had all these problems”?

Earlier Monday, Lott issued a statement, saying, “My comments were not an endorsement of his positions of over 50 years ago, but of the man and his life.” How can you endorse a man and his life, but not his positions? A man is the positions he takes on things. Hilter had a position on Jews. It doesn’t matter if Hilter like puppies and violets, it’s the position on Jews that made the man.

Same with Strom. He is what he is. And his position on Civil Rights is the worst there is. Lott tipped his hat with this one.

Jesse Jackson, never to miss a controversy, called for Lott to resign, and former Vice President Al Gore called the comment “racist,” and said he should apologize for his comments or the Senate should censure him.

Does, “My comments were not an endorsement of his positions of over 50 years ago, but of the man and his life,” sound like an apology to you? Not to me.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, who’s turning into a pussy faster than Michael Jackson, said he believes Lott did not intend for his comments to be interpreted as racist. Way to go Tom.

“There are a lot of times when he and I go to the mike and would like to say things we meant to say differently, and I’m sure this is one of those cases for him as well,” Daschle said.

Lets not forget. Lott referenced Thurmond’s 1948 campaign, where he ran as a segregationist, then said he should have been elected, and if he had been, we would not have had the “problems” we did.

Then, the leading Democrat, Tom “How’s my Hair” Daschle backs down from a clear and blatant slap to the face to generations of minorities.

Gore, speaking to CNN, said, “It is not a small thing for one of the half dozen most prominent political leaders in America to say that our problems are caused by integration and that we should have had a segregationist candidate. That is divisive and it is divisive along racial lines. That’s the definition of a racist comment.”

At least with Clinton, the only thing we had to worry about was if he was going to nail another intern, not disparage millions at the sword of racism.

Next week, Trent Lott does lunch with Mark Furman.