Lott's apology isn't enough, says English

SHARON, Pa. -- U.S. Rep. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, said he condemns remarks may by U.S. Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi at a birthday party for Sen. Strom Thurmond last week.
English also said Lott's public apology isn't enough.
Lott, the senate's top Republican, can't be an effective leader with serious questions being raised about his stand on racial issues, English said Thursday, stopping short of calling for Lott to step down.
That's a decision to be made by Republicans in the Senate, he said, urging that those leaders sit down to decide what to do.
English said he is unsatisfied with Lott's apology and said the senator "really has to come clean on those issues."
Lott's comments, suggesting that the United States would have been better off if Thurmond had been elected president when he ran in 1948, "sent the wrong message to a lot of people in the minority community," English said.
Thurmond, from South Carolina, ran for president as a racial segregationist.