Just for fun, here's President Bush's statement today on Trent Lott, who announced he will resign at the end of this year, and Bush's comments from 2002, when the president cut Lott's feet out from under him, effectively preventing him from becoming Senate majority leader.

Then:

"Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive, and it is wrong. Recent comments by Senator Lott do not reflect the spirit of our country. He has apologized, and rightly so. Every day our nation was segregated was a day that America was unfaithful to our founding ideals. And the founding ideals of our nation and, in fact, the founding ideals of the political party I represent was, and remains today, the equal dignity and equal rights of every American."

Now:

"For more than three decades, Trent Lott has been an outstanding advocate in the United States Congress for the people of Mississippi. With service in the Republican leadership in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, he has skillfully advanced legislation and effectively championed key principles of our party, including low taxes and a strong national defense.
…
Throughout his service, Trent has always been a leader — someone his colleagues have known they could count on to stay true to his principles while working cooperatively to achieve results for the American people. Trent enjoyed bipartisan respect because of his reverence for the institutions of Congress and because Republicans and Democrats knew they could count on him to keep his commitments and his word."

— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times