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Far as I can tell according to my timeline, it was the 5th of December for the celebration. Jackson on Meet the Press complained on Sunday 12/8, and the week of December 9-13 came the drip, drip, drip of indignation from the honored republicans. When did it really become a problem?

Don't misunderstand me. I admire Noonan, Bennet and Malkin~that's why it's so difficult to accept their positions right now, but they're entitled to their opinions and they actually have an outlet to voice their opinions on a wider scale.

Good question -- I went back into the archives and found discussions of the issue really heating up on 12/8. My feeling is this: Jesse Jackson has a problem with republicans every single day, and it usually doesn't stick. The reason it's sticking this time (as evidenced by pubbie commentators going against Lott instead of the usual deserved ridicule of Jackson) is because of three intertwined things:
-Lott's comment truly was objectionable, unlike the benign comments the race-baiters usually jump on (e.g., "niggardly"-gate).
-Lott's history on race (like the histories of many on both sides of the aisle) is not squeaky-clean, which makes any comment with a breath of race in it highly scrutinized. Because he's republican, he's under the microscope even more.
-Lott has repeatedly screwed up as the public face of the republican party. Even pubbies who don't think he's racist are coming out against him because his remark and subsequent bumbling apologies constitute a serious failure in one of the most important parts of his job: public opinion management.