Is this why he's been nicknamed, "Odd Lott"?

This goes way beyond "fence straddling politics"...It's more like "fence jumping".

And Americans *continue* to pay taxes to suport this kind of behavior, not just Lott's, but the government's odd behavior in general...

such is politics I suppose. But I'd prefer they pour salt on the dems wounds now and not do this sort of olive branch crap.

Old Estragon, of course, recalls Lott's record- while a congressman - in the Nixon impeachment debate and the later Clinton impeachment debate.
Lott is a skilled wheeler-dealer and has usually managed to gather a "good press" while demonstrating quite clearly the most reprehensible hypocrisy.
My impression has always been that Lott's prime concern is Lott.
This is a skilful manoeuvre whereby Democrats will find it very difficult to exploit any weaknesses that arise procedurally from Bush's relatively tiny minority. And Republicans who are anti-Lott will find it very hard to mount a challenge as this will appear, now, to be anti-unity.