Oh, a tape is always much better than somebody who worked for Thurmond who was standing five feet away.
Trent Lott has supported affirmative action all of his political career. (Even though AA is wrong.) He's not a racist -- let alone a segregationist.
There are plenty of other reasons to loathe Lott, which I can agree on. But not that one.
That was totally manufactured by the DNC media. Which was made even more apparent when they ignored far more egregious remarks under similar circumstances by their masters in the Democrat party.
"Trent Lott has supported affirmative action all of his political career. (Even though AA is wrong.) He's not a racist -- let alone a segregationist."
Correction. I guess he is only a more recent convert to AA, and that he may have voted against it years ago. (Not that that is a necessarily a good thing.)
Still, I don't buy the media's spin on his remarks. Or your friends. It was a pleasantry and standard boilerplate to say about old politicians who have run for higher office and lost.
You can go through the Congressional Record and see hundreds of exactly the same remarks, word for word.