Dec. 13 — Friday afternoon, Trent Lott, the incoming Senate majority leader, apologized yet again for an allegedly racist comment he made at the 100th birthday party of his colleague, Strom Thurmond. Many conservative pundits have discounted Lott’s apologies, arguing that he should step down to restore his party’s honor. They want to be tough and principled. But calling Lott a bigot and throwing him overboard is the easy way out. Lott’s apologies tell a truer and more common story. He has forgotten the importance of the civil rights movement. He tries to be nice even to extremists in his...