As I predicted, now that Mr. Lott has stepped down as Senate Majority Leader, Republican media mouthpieces have entered full spin cycle claiming that the party has now dealt with its racist "past."

As quoted in the New York Times today William Kristol says:

Lott is really virtually the last of the products of Richard Nixon's `Southern strategy' to be in major positions of power in the Congress, and with his leaving, you will have cleared out people who, fairly or unfairly, have a somewhat compromised image to the country as a whole.

Interestingly, as a message to those "New South" voters, he didn't claim that the substance of current policies has changed, only the image. Dr. Frist's voting record is as conservative as Lott's. Further, Mr. Bush's easy use of the symbols and language of racism in the quest for election belie his new-found respect for equal rights. Behing the scenes and when the electoral stakes are high, the same "Southern Strategy" will still be SOP for the GOP.

Stephen at "To The Barricades" sums it up succintly.