LEARNED NOTHING AND FORGOTTEN NOTHING? Trent Lott wants back in the Senate leadership. Capt. Ed isn’t excited about this: “My opposition comes from Lott’s attitude towards pork, and especially his attitude about the people who oppose pork spending.”

Given the Democrats’ anti-pork positioning of late — and the importance of issues like pork and corruption, which sat at the top of the exit poll issues list, to voters — it seems to me that picking Lott would be a big mistake for the GOP if they want to recover in 2008. As Ed puts it:

Republicans need to show that they have learned a lesson from their midterm drubbing. They lost their majorities because voters perceived that they had lost touch with the electorate on policy as well as attitude. 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.

Indeed.