With Trent Lott’s Vote Back Into GOP Leadership, the Jig is Up on the Party’s ‘Inclusion’
By Deborah Mathis 

Last week, as the majority club got ready to resume the minority position come January, GOP senators elected Trent Lott of Mississippi as second highest ranking member in their conference — to which one can only say, if they are as interested in courting the black vote as their national party claims to be, they’ve got a funny way of showing it.

Let me refresh the record.

This is the same man who, in December 2002, got booted as Senate majority leader on account of remarks that were roundly excoriated as an endorsement of racism. Lott got it from all sides back then; as much as any outraged liberal, his fellow Republicans were crawling all over one another to get on the record of repudiation.

Desperate to save his political skin, Lott submitted to an interview with Ed Gordon on Black Entertainment Television, denounced his own remarks as “repugnant” and essentially promised to become black America’s new best friend.

“I will listen to and talk to African American leaders and African-American men and women,” he pledged.

Only Trent Lott knows if he lived up to that promise, but if he did, I’d like to know who in the world he consulted. Lott has had four years now to redeem himself, but his record — already lousy on civil rights, civil liberties and poor people’s issues — still stinks to high heaven.

For the rest of the story, click here. 

Pelosi’s support of John Murtha for House speaker was based on principle, but you wouldn’t know it from the mainstream media’s accounts.
Media Miss the Point on Pelosi’s Endorsement
By Arianna Huffington

The only thing surprising about the current mainstream media narrative regarding Nancy Pelosi is its relentless predictability. Practically since the day the Iraq war started to go bad, Democrats have been derided in the press for not having a plan, and choosing pragmatism over principle.

Cut to ‘06. Hot on the heels of an electoral triumph, Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi endorses as Majority Leader the member of the House most identified with speaking out against the war — the man whose courage in doing so fueled the nationalized campaign that gave Democrats the majority in the first place. I’m speaking, of course, about Jack Murtha.

Murtha then loses the Leadership race to Steny Hoyer. As Pelosi no doubt knew, it was an uphill battle from the beginning — Hoyer had been tirelessly campaigning for the job among Democratic caucus members for months. But Pelosi gave her support to Murtha because, as she put it in the title of her blog this week on HuffPost: “Bringing the War to an End is my Highest Priority as Speaker.”

It doesn’t get much clearer or more principled than that.

So what’s been the reaction in the media?

According to the Los Angeles Times, Pelosi is off to a “rocky start,” while the New York Times says she’s “tempting disaster.”

Disaster? If wanting to give a high-profile platform to the man most responsible for his party finally locating its spine regarding Iraq (and who, for his troubles, received the full brunt of the Bush/Rove/Mehlman slime machine) is a “disaster,” what word do you use to describe the war itself? Disast-orrfic? Catastro-bacle-aster? Disaster-to-the-10th-power?

Every day, I get emails and MySpace messages from people who say that they check out the blog but never leave any comments. Since the blog gets as many as 25,000 hits a day but most posts only receive 20-30 comments, I’m sure that this is true.

Today, I’d like you “lurkers” out there to drop a comment telling me how often you read, what topics you like, and why you don’t usually post. In addition to satisfying my curiousity,  I’d like to know how I can make the Barbershop more interesting and engaging for the silent majority. Don’t be scared!!!

Of course, if you’d rather remain in the shadows of the blog, there’s no hard feelings. Just keep reading and supporting the page.

• I’m not sure why everyone was surprised that the Cowboys defeated the Colts. First, the Colts have been playing sloppy and were likely due for a loss to the next decent team that they played. More important, the Colts’ defense (particularly the secondary) had not been consistently tested all season. Also, despite Peyton Manning’s brilliance, the Colts’ offense, like everyone else, is beatable. Dallas deployed a 3-4 front, which always gives Indiannapolis trouble, as the Colts had problems blocking pass-rushers off the edge. Don’t be surprised if this victory gives the inconsistent Cowboys enough confidence to win the wide-open NFC East.
• Although I’m proud that Ryan Howard won the National League MVP, I’m not quite sure how he earned it over Albert Pujols. Sure, Howard’s home run and RBI numbers were impressive, but Pujols wasn’t far behind in those categories. Also, Pujols was third in the league in batting average (.331) and had higher slugging, on-base, baserunning, and defensive numbers. Most important, his team went to the playoffs and won the World Series. Of course, some will argue that the MVP isn’t about individual stats, but an individual’s importance to his respective team. History, however, doesn’t bear that out. For example, Bonds and Jeff Kent competed for the MVP for several years despite being on the same team. This suggests that neither player was as important to the Giants as several other players who were their team’s only superstar.
• The Cleveland Cavs are playing like the best team in the East right now. Expect them to dominate much of the regular season –assuming Hughes holds up and Ilgauskis doesn’t completely break down—before losing to a veteran team in the playoffs.
• It’s a shame that Donovan McNabb waited so long before his inevitable season-ending injury. If he had cracked earlier, at least the Birds would have had a shot at a strong draft pick. Now, with Jeff Garcia at the helm, they’ll likely finish 8-8 and be back to do the same thing again next year.
• Although Jameer Nelson and Dwight Howard are playing well, the Orlando Magic will go as far as Grant Hill’s body will take them. Watching Grant Hill dominate after all of his injuries and near-retirements is both exciting and depressing. Although it’s fun to marvel at his incredible talent, it’s sad to think about all of the MVPs and championship trophies that might have come his way if his body could have held up.