Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) gets that talk radio hosts are angry with him, but he wants to set a couple of things straight: He’s not hiding, and he still doesn’t like that fence.

Lott told a scrum of reporters on June 14 that “talk radio is running America — we have to deal with that problem,” adding that the troublemakers who are overwhelmingly opposed to the immigration legislation “don’t even know what’s in the bill.”

Now they’re really mad.

“The people that he’s actually complaining and whining about now are the ones that tried to defend him when everybody else was throwing him overboard when he made those joking comments at a tribute to Strom Thurmond,” an indignant Rush Limbaugh declared.

By Tuesday, Lott didn’t have an unkind word for the scorned hosts or even the bloggers who have taken up their cause, saying only, “they are both wonderful,” with a sparkle in his eye.

So why didn’t he take the opportunity to defend himself when Sean Hannity wanted to interview him on his nationally syndicated radio show?

Oh, that. Lott said he would have loved to do the interview, but it happened that he was on a tractor plowing his wheat fields when Hannity’s staff tried to track him down.

“Tractors are loud,” he explained. By the time he got the message and called the radio station, it was too late. Lott said he would be happy to reschedule.

Lott’s farm work apparently does more for him than shield him from angry talk radio hosts. It also informs his lack of confidence in a fence as an effective border security measure.

“I’ve got two goats on my place in Mississippi. There ain’t no fence big enough or strong enough to hold them,” Lott said Wednesday. “People are at least as smart as goats, maybe not as agile ... One of the ways I kept those goats in the fence is, I electrified it.”

Of course, Lott added, “I’m not proposing an electrified goat fence” for the southern border. “It’s an analogy here.”

Lautenberg: meant for Jewel?

We here on Capitol Hill are accustomed to seeing celebrities traipse around after the members of Congress they’ve seen on television.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) all get their share of love from actors and musicians as they make their pilgrimage up to the Capitol to declare a cause about which they are “passionate.”

So, of course, that’s why pop songstress Jewel stood in a hallway for nearly half an hour chatting with — wait … Sen. Frank Lautenberg?

Indeed, the 83-year-old Democrat from New Jersey laughed at himself later, as he reflected on his time spent with the pretty crooner, who is 50 years his junior.

Jewel was on the premises for a Way and Means hearing on youth homelessness — an issue she knows well from some time spent on the streets during her teen years.

Lautenberg, who has sponsored a resolution to declare November “National Homeless Youth Awareness Month,” said he was impressed by her sincerity and knowledge on poverty issues.

The senator said he knew she was a famous musician, but he admits to not being familiar with her work.

“I think we were on equal footing: I didn’t know a lot about her, and she didn’t know a lot about me,” Lautenberg said.

Still, he fished around in his mind to come up with some of his work that she might know, eventually informing her that he authored the 1987 law that banned smoking on airplanes.

He said she was impressed, too.

Throwing out, throwing up

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) had a rough Father’s Day weekend. Instead of enjoying an afternoon of napping or channel-surfing, McCotter was busy with some honey-dos (as in, “Honey, do this” or “Honey, do that”) around the house.

Unfortunately, one of the chores involved lifting, and the father of three wrenched his back. The pain was so intense, one source said, that when McCotter tried to stand, he threw up.

Chief of Staff Martin Van Valkenburg took McCotter to the hospital.

Bob Jackson, McCotter’s Michigan press secretary, was unaware that anything was awry with his boss until the congressman suddenly went incommunicado. McCotter is no fan of BlackBerry technology, so his short hospital stay meant radio silence to most of his staff.

All was well again by Tuesday, however, when McCotter’s staff learned from their restored connection with their boss that he was on his feet again.

Dennis, Dennis and Sirius radio