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December 18, 2002, 8:45 a.m. Rick Santorum MIA. By NRO Staff

EDITOR’S NOTE: The newspaper accounts tell us that Senator Trent Lott is taking the names of who is or isn't going to stand by him while he tries to maintain his hold on power by any means necessary. Well, so is NRO. We know the senators want this matter to operate by the super-secret rules of the Skull & Bones Society, but it's too important for that. Excuse us for noting the performance of senators at a crucial time for the GOP.

R loves Senator Rick Santorum, but he has produced some rotten spin in the current controversy. On Meet the Press Sunday, he seemed to defend Trent Lott partly on grounds that not just Lott, but the Republican party at large, has a racial problem.

Of the reaction to Lott's remarks, Santorum said, "And I think Trent Lott has gotten that message clearly. I think our other Republican colleagues have gotten that message clearly, many of whom have been working with me, but I think now understand the need for us to really be aggressive on a policy front."

So, Santorum located the problem not in Lott's clumsiness and initial unwillingness to deal frankly with its consequences, but instead in the policies of the GOP. This may have been a reflection of Santorum's praiseworthy work trying to reach out to minorities over the years. But it also forecast what would become on Monday night "the BET defense" — Trent Lott's suggestion that he needs to stay in power so he can get his colleagues aboard a version of the Congressional Black Caucus's agenda.

This is simply placing the interests of one man over the conservative cause. We are surprised Senator Santorum would be party to it. He was also, for such a principled and straightforward politician, uncharacteristically dodgy on Meet the Press over whether there would be a meeting to reconsider Lott's leadership.

But he did make his own position clear: Senate Republicans shouldn't even meet to decide whether Lott should remain leader in light of an event that would seem rather crucial to evaluating his leadership going forward. Again: They shouldn't even meet.

Now, his position has modified somewhat. Republicans should get together on Jan. 6 — three weeks from now, after Lott has made who knows how many more groveling apologies and abandoned who knows how many more conservative policies — and reaffirm their support for him ("Keep up the good work, Trent").

We realize that Senator Santorum is friends with Lott, and we admire his personal loyalty. But aren't there more important things than that? Aren't there? Senator?

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