For the reasons given by Roy Edroso and Matt Yglesias, I think it's silly to claim that there's any moral equivalence between Harry Reid's use of anachronistic racial classifications and Trent Lott's argument that the country's fundamental problems would have been solved if the United States had elected a rabidly pro-apartheid ticket in 1948. It's also worth addressing, however, the implicit claim that Trent Lott was somehow excommunicated by the Republican Party after expressing affection for the Dixiecrat platform. It is true that Lott had to resign his position as majority leader (to be replaced by hand-picked Bush administration favorite Bill Frist). Whether Lott would have been forced out if Bush didn't prefer Frist for other reasons is unclear. What's not debatable, however, is that in 2006 this alleged pariah was elected minority whip by his Senate colleagues. That was sure some harsh punishment!
--Scott Lemieux
