So Lott was saying, "I'm a racist and proud of it."? Is that what you're trying to imply?
Nice try, but no cigar.
How else should we interpret it?
Why is Trent proud that his state voted for a ticket whose sole focus was maintaining Jim Crow?
Why did he make the exact same remark at a Reagan fundraiser in 1980 - and God knows how many other times besides that didn't have cameras available?
Lott did not "mispeak." He did not confuse Jesse Jackson for Michael Jackson or use the word "niggardly" in proper (or improper) context. He spoke two full sentences that don't need much interpretation.
What "problems" would we not have had if Thurmond had been elected in 1948?
Sorry. I just don't buy that Trent was trying to say nice things about Strom at his birthday party and flubbed a word or two.
He ended up breathing new life into the scurrilous notion that underneath every Republican is a sheet-wearing racist.