He didn't even appear in person until the President slammed him. Until then, he was giving phoned-in, tepid apologies. That is the thing. Lott was on vacation in Boca Raton for a week. He says he didn't do a tv interview because there wasn't a satellite feed at a local station, so he just did written statements for the first several days, then Wednesday switched to radio interviews with Hannity and King.
Lott's political sense was so faulty, his hubris was so great, that even by Wednesday, he wasn't willing to drive to say... oh Miami, which is 45 miles from Boca Raton, to get face time on tv and try to kill this story.
You have just re-enforced my point. Lott didn't really think he did anything wrong and saw no reason to upset his vacation. He is weak and spineless and this episode is just an extension of that. I listened to the anger in President Bush's voice IN PUBLIC...I can only imagine what he said and felt in private. Our President has spent the last two years of his presidency reaching out to minorities, just as he successfully did in Texas - and it took this bozo two minutes to wipe it all out. And Lott still doesn't get it. He is not fit to reach out in expanding our base. He is a major roadblock.