One of the things I like about weblogs is watching people like Henry Hanks just get all over an issue that isn’t being widely noticed in the mainstream media. In this case it’s a completely bogus claim about presidential succession that is being promoted by politicians who apparently can memorize Democratic Party talking points but can’t be bothered with understanding the niceties of the Constitution.
Hanks points to a typical example where Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee complains of Trent Lott,
I am extremely disappointed by Senator Lott’s comments. I find them totally inappropriate and especially reprehensible coming from someone who is just four heartbeats away from being president.
Hanks has linked to numerous stories of people repeating this ill-informed claim. The reality, of course, is that Lott is somewhere near the bottom of a long list of people in the line of presidential succession. The current order is,
The Vice President Richard Cheney
Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
President pro tempore of the Senate1 Robert Byrd
Secretary of State Colin Powell
Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Attorney General John Ashcroft
Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton
Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman
Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Melquiades Rafael Martinez
Secretary of Transportation Norman Yoshiro Mineta
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham
Secretary of Education Roderick Paige
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Princip
People like Lee seem to think that Lott will be President pro tempore of the Senate, but that position goes to the Senator of the majority party who has served the longest. Former Klansman Robert Byrd is currently fourth in line of succession — Trent Lott isn’t even the senior Senator from Mississippi having been elected to the Senate in 1988.