Lott does have the ability here to change the discussion -- and maybe he's the only one who does.
If he voluntarily stepped down from the majority leader position, retaining his rightful Senate seat for at least the remainder of his current term, then he become the martyr.
The discussion then becomes: Did leftwing, Democrat race pimps wrongfully impugn Lott? Has race pimping gone too far? Have we entered the world of Orwellian thought crimes? Those become the questions in the press, because Lott would make the self-sacrifice for the greater good and place himself entirely above the mudslinging. He could even do it with an impassioned (Hah!) speech that he grew up in a different society (like Thurmond) and has grown and changed as he has walked through the world -- some such media mulch.
But he changes the issue with one act of self-sacrifice. Then a whole lot of people who saw him as a problem, see him anew as at least a martyr if not a hero.
It's all in his hands. It's the only good way out now.