Paul Mirengoff at Powerline has a positive take on the appointment of Mel Martinez and the election of Trent Lott:

Many conservative bloggers seem unwilling to entertain the thought that it may be reasonable to have an Hispanic Senator as a public face of the party, while politicos at the RNC do the nuts-and-bolts work. Or that the advantages of having a procedural wizard in the number two Senate minority job may outweigh a few bad headlines and a little digust two years before the next election.

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Yeah, Lott knows what he’s doing procedurally but he compromises Republican principles too much. I want more of an ideologue in the whip position. I’m putting my hope in McConnell to keep him in line.
And as to Martinez, I had thought that as well, that’s why I wasn’t surprised that he was selected. Though, I’m not too thrilled that he won’t be an advocate for Republican principles. We need someone out on the Sunday morning shows telling everyone how great the economy is thanks to the President’s tax cuts and how we need a strong defense and how the Democrats are looking to cut and run and how Pelosi doesn’t even think we’re at war, etc.