The future did not look very rosy for us prior to 9/11.
A bunch of people here have gotten used to the astronomical approval ratings and general lack of criticism. The rat's were largely muzzled and thrown into complete disarray when the WTC was attacked it drown out the petty bickering over issues like this.
Thus, due to the focus on national security related issues, we got a rest from this kind of thing till now.
Think about it, if the WTC attack hadn't taken place this kind of thing would have been dominate in the media. The petty sniping over non-issues like this would have been present every day.
I suppose your answer in ever case would have been to simply roll over and give the rats what they want? To join them in picking the party apart when we finally have to power to do something good and advance our agenda?
The reason conservatives are so hyper-sensitive is largely because they are used to the media saying good things about them. They got used to the focus being elsewhere and now that the focus is back on race allot of people are willing to sacrifice anything just to make it go away. Trent Lott, the Senate, the SC, anything to just make them shut up and stop saying that word.
And they won't. The democrats are going to return to this well till it runs dry.
Appeasing them, sacrificing to them or damaging ourselves is just counter productive.