Lott's Sorry, But Won't Step Down

Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott denounced segregation and racism as immoral Friday and asked "forbearance and forgiveness" as he struggled to quell a controversy that threatened his political career. But he vowed he would not quit his leadership position despite calls for his departure.

"I apologize for reopening old wounds and hurting so many Americans," Lott said at a news conference in his hometown of Pascagoula, Miss.

Some Democrats have called on Lott to step aside, and President Bush sharply criticized the senator's comments in a speech Thursday.

But on Friday, Lott said emphatically, "I'm not about to resign for an accusation for something I'm not."

In a brief opening statement, Lott, 61, said several times that segregation and racism were wrong "immoral."

"I take full responsibility for my remarks and only hope that people will find in their heart to forgive me for this grievous mistake," he added.

"Segregation is a stain on our nation's soul. There is no other way to describe it," Lott said.

Lott touched off the furor eight days ago while praising Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., at his 100th birthday party. He said Mississippians were proud to have voted for Thurmond in 1948 when he headed the pro-segregationist Dixiecrat ticket.

"And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years either," Lott added.

The remarks triggered an outpouring of anger from Democrats and Republicans alike, culminating in criticism from President Bush on Thursday.

"Any suggestion that the segregated past was acceptable or positive is offensive and it is wrong," Mr. Bush said to a multiracial audience in Philadelphia, drawing long applause.

After Mr. Bush's speech, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the president does not think Lott needs to resign as majority leader.

But sources have told CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer that influential Republicans — some of them inside the White House — are now urging the president to work behind the scenes to get Lott to step down from his leadership post.

Thus far, two Democratic senators have called on Lott to resign - John Kerry of Massachusetts and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. But the Mississippian serves at the sufferance of fellow Republican senators. Whatever their discomfort, none of them has yet called for his ouster, and Lott has worked hard behind the scenes to shore up support.

In one bright spot for Lott, Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont, who abandoned the Republican Party to become an independent last year partly because of differences with the conservative Lott, issued a statement calling Lott "a man of honor and good conscience."

Some Republicans maintained a conspicuous silence on the controversy, outgoing GOP whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma among them. A senior White House official said Lott's apology was important — and different from previous ones — because it would be his first on-camera apology. Senior White House aides also prodded Lott privately to make a public mea culpa, a point that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., expressed publicly.

Lott, who has previously admitted supporting segregation as a student at the University of Mississippi when U.S. marshals brought the first black student to the school, continued to be battered by revelations on his civil rights record.

Time Magazine on Thursday reported that some 40 years ago, Lott led an effort to prevent his all-white fraternity from integrating any of its chapter. Critics have also listed such past actions as his 1983 vote against a federal holiday for Martin Luther King Jr., his 1982 vote against the Voting Rights Act extension and his efforts to restore confederate president Jefferson Davis' citizenship. It was also reported that at a 1980 rally in Mississippi he expressed similar regrets that Thurmond hadn't been elected in 1948.