Although much has been said about the initial silence of the "liberal" news media over the Lott Affair, almost unmentioned has been the craven defense of the bigot by three who should know better: John McCain, JC Watts, and, especially, Tom Daschle. I don't know or care whether the GOP decides to maintain as its public face in the Senate an unreconstructed segregationist, since, no matter how well that party does in the old Confederacy, it won't be able to get enough support from the rest of the country to repeal anti-lynching laws or allow states to forbid inter-racial marriages. I do have problems with my party being led by castrati.