On the downside Brian Griffin seems to think that by pointing out that Senator and former Klansman Robert Byrd made an unfortunate political decision by appearing in a movie as a Confederate General I'm saying this is morally equivalent to Trent Lott somehow.

Quite frankly, I never said they were in any way equivalent. I know Byrd was a racist back in the WWII era, but I do believe it's possible to change. Besides the fact that every third thing in West Virginia is named after the guy I really don't know him well enough to make a judgment on his present day racial views.

Secondly, I've never claimed that Lott was mistreated in any way by the media. He got what he deserved plain and simple. There are racist Republicans, and there are racist Democrats. That however doesn't change the fact that doing something that will remind people of your former racist beliefs in a time when you're much more likely to get called on the matter isn't the best thing to be doing, even if it does mean that the Wheeling public library will get to be the repository of "The Robert C. Byrd Copy of Gods and Generals". (The last part there of course being a joke.)