Just listened to Lott being interviewed by Sean Hannity . Several times, he managed to work the phrase “a mistake of the head, not of the heart” into the conversation. Toward the end, it became clear why:
“Quite often we do become too exuberant in our endorsements of people that perhaps we work with or are retiring or having birthdays, in this case, so I don’t want to, uh, others clearly have made that sort of mistake. This quote I talked about , it was a mistake of the head, not of the heart, was actually a quote as I understand it, from Jesse Jackson, in 1984. It’s a very thoughtful statement, you know, I don’t even remember what the occasion was, but he basically said it was an error of word, temprament, tone, caused discomfort and he asked forgiveness.”
I don’t remember that specific phrase, but Lott is obviously referring to Jackson’s ill-considered “Hymietown” remarks. And if you believe for one moment that Trent Lott just happened to come across this quote, but gosh darn it, can’t quite remember the context in which is was originally proferred, well, send me an email, because there’s a large and relatively well-known bridge not far from my home here in Brooklyn that I would like to sell you at a very reasonable price.