Look, I'm not going to say what they did was right. But every link you sent said that they apologized immediatly. (Go back and read them. Your own facts hang you.)

Lott, on the other hand, exposed himself quite openly when he said that "If Sen. Thurmond had been elected, we wouldn't have had all of these problems today."

Now, honestly, he might have not even known what he was saying. But he should have. Because he made the SAME comment a couple of years before at a press conference, and was called to the carpet then too! He didn't learn his lesson.

On top of that, he took three days to apologize for his comments. There IS NO double standard. The two that you cite immediatly apologized profusely. Lott, on the otherhand, begrudgingly (that means "to give or expend with reluctance" Madman. I don't want to have to explain it to you later.) offered his apology only when Republican leaders asked him to, under much pressure.

The difference is the heart, and I don't see Lott having one.