[Torie]

The issue is a bit more complex than whether Lott is a racist, which he is not. He used to be a segregationist, and failed until now apparently to ever denounce it, and that background together with his remarks, and handling of the situation, and a couple of other little items that I feel no need to repeat here, is what has fed the beast. To slay it cleanly, Lott needed the courage to frame the affair as a redemptive event in his life, that he realized that he should have taken the opportunity earlier to denounce segregation when he realized it was wrong, and to refer specifically to some of his prior acts, such as his dalliance with the CCC (maybe more than that, maybe not), and his refusal to sponsor a commendation of the 3 murdered civil rights workers, as wrong. He didn't, and now he is on the ropes. He needs to take some risks to turn it around, and show considerably more skill than he has to date.