Reply #2: Over the last 10 years every new generation of GOP leaders

[Tom Rinaldo]

makes the preceding generation look relatively moderate in comparison. It's uncanny. Gingritch looks like a moderate next to Delay. Dole seemed moderate compared to Lott. Lott got taken down in public by Republicans when his Strom comments embarrassed them, and now the southern tier of his State has literally been left hung out to dry in Bush's version of a hurrican emergency response plan, so Lott may be a little more prone to stray off the reservation than previoulsy. Nothing so dramatic as to hurt his chances to regain leadership though I suspect.