Lott: 'I've already offended everybody'
Fence? Goats? What is Lott talking about?

WASHINGTON --
What does a fence on the United State-Mexico border have to do with goats?

Sen. Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., was talking to reporters Wednesday about the immigration bill, when he said, "If the answer is 'build a fence' I've got two goats on my place in Mississippi. There ain't no fence big enough, high enough, strong enough, that you can keep those goats in that fence."

"Now people are at least as smart as goats," Lott continued. "Maybe not as agile. Build a fence. We should have a virtual fence. Now one of the ways I keep those goats in the fence is I electrified them. Once they got popped a couple of times they quit trying to jump it."

"I'm not proposing an electrified goat fence," Lott added quickly, "I'm just trying, there's an analogy there."

Asked for clarification as to what exactly the analogy was, Lott spokesman Lee Youngblood said that the senator supported a variety of measures in the immigration bill, including unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles, radar and more border patrol agents, as well as a fence to reduce the flow of illegal immigration.

"A fence in and of itself is not enough," said Youngblood. "You can have technology to support the fence and to supplement the fence."

The revived immigration bill that the Senate is set to consider after collapsing last week includes an additional $4.4 billion for border security with funding for 370 miles of fencing.

Lott has become a lightning rod for criticism for his support for the bill, most recently by talk radio.

Acknowledging the flak he's taken, Lott said Wednesday, "I keep trying to tell everybody 'calm down, calm down, let me be the one that offends the left, the middle and the right.' I'm doing great, aren't I? But it gives you a level of utopia that is just so blissful."

"I don't worry about offending anybody anymore, " said Lott, "because I've already offended everybody."

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