His "apology" gave me the boost.

Instead of: ''A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embrace the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my statement.''

I would have liked to hear something more along the lines of: I was speaking as a conservative and as an admirer of much of Strom's history of public service. By "all these problems", I was referring specifically to the many years of ineffective liberal leadership, and the troubles that these caused [insert typical Republican indictments here]. In no way do I now support or have I ever supported the policy of segregation.

Post-apology, I'm more convinced than I was that he refers to racial "problems" that would have been solved by holding the line on segregation. Sad.