I listened to the tribute on CSPAN radio. The Washington bleep is working overtime on this one. Lott did say it but there was no response from the audience. As a matter of fact, Lott was pretty terrible in most all of his remarks. Came off as a jerk as he didn't know whether to be light or serious. I have to say Bob Dole was way better.
I agree with the Mad Ivan on having someone else as Majority Leader as Lott is IMHO ineffective and still wants to treat the Dims as gentlemen. However, Lott can not and should not be removed because of this remark. The WP is merely trying to stick it to the Repubs. Their nose is still out of joint as a result of the midterm elections.
There was probably no response from the audience because they were sitting there in stunned silence.