From Lott: Bush barely mentioned Iraq in meeting with Senate Republicans, by CNN’s Ted Barrett:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush barely mentioned the war in Iraq when he met with Republican senators behind closed doors in the Capitol Thursday morning and was not asked about the course of the war, Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, said.

“No, none of that,” Lott told reporters after the session when asked if the Iraq war was discussed. “You’re the only ones who obsess on that. We don’t and the real people out in the real world don’t for the most part.”

Lott went on to say he has difficulty understanding the motivations behind the violence in Iraq.

“It’s hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these people,” he said. “Why do they kill people of other religions because of religion? Why do they hate the Israeli’s and despise their right to exist? Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.”

Wow. The mere fact that an actual Senator in the United States Senate can say this and not be ripped out of his post and shamed is infuriating. Iraq, torture, these are the moral issues of our time, these are the issues that a majority of Americans are so very concerned with right now.

Obviously this is not the first assasine, racist, anti-human rights, ignorant comment this dude has made, let alone actions he has taken, but FOLKS, Lott has been in Congress for THIRTY-THREE YEARS. This guy, and so many others in his position (white republican senators or congresspeople) are so out of touch with reality it’s bizarre. THIS is exactly why I’m so pissed at Dems in general (and looking for some good new blood in and outside of the party, at this point i’ll vote for anyone who has principals and has a track record, whether republican, democrat, green, libertarian, etc). We’ve had opportunity after opportunity (as if God herself handed them personally to us) to shame these racist, anti-human rights, anti-AMERICAN, war-mongering folks and we have done NOTHING in response (I’m talkin’ *we* as in the party of Dems, i’m not putting down the amazing work that so many individuals and organizations are doing).

How do we use these pieces of fodder to our advantage? Someone on another blog suggested taking these words or video and playing them on ads at election time to show that (many) republicans don’t actually care about the war, or that they don’t have a basic college education. Any other creative ideas? We need to capitalize on their bullshit while we can.

And to the rest of the world, I’m sorry that Lott thinks he can say things like “I think it’s hard for Americans, all of us, including me, to understand what’s wrong with these [Iraqi] people.” He didn’t speak for me, nor did he speak for the majority of the country. And he needs to go to high school, or college, wherever they teach world politics 101. Embarassing.

Ok, so much else to report on — hopefully I’ll get a few minutes to blog a bit over the weekend. I’ve got much to write about Ani Difranco in concert, Massive Attack in concert, a sweet new weekly spoken word event just blocks from my house, and a reportback from 1 year post hurricane katrina that I went to tonight (including exciting discussions on movement-building among brown and black people).