I've had some time to think about Lott's apology and I have to say that it went a lot further then I expected. Usually at this stage the Republicans would still be blustering about how it wasn't all that big a deal or the Dems were just playing the race card (Novak used that excuse yesteday). But the wording in this apology definitely leans more towards the "my bad" then "your bad for misunderstanding me" (thanks Maia). I guess someone read Lott the riot act that if he didn't stop this now he WOULD suffer for it. This just demonstrates that the GOP can be held responsible for its actions if only Dems are willing to actually turn up the heat. If it had been up to Daschle and the "liberal media", Lott would have been able to slide and the standards for decent conduct would have been even more eroded. All in all I think this was a win for the good guys.