New York Times reporter Anne E. Kornblut needs a history lesson. Here’s what she wrote about Ken Mehlman’s apology yesterday:

Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, spoke at the N.A.A.C.P.’s convention in Milwaukee. In his most extensive comments yet on the subject of race, Mr. Mehlman apologized for the so-called Southern strategy that his party employed nearly a half-century ago, when Republicans used the hostility of the civil rights era to pit Southern conservatives against blacks.

“Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization,” he said. “I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong.”

“Nearly a half-century ago”? The so-called Southern strategy was used at the national level up through at least 1988, when Willie Horton and the crime issue were carefully exploited by Lee Atwater, George H.W. Bush’s campaign strategist. And it was used even longer in congressional campaigns such as Jesse Helms’ re-election campaign in 1990. Sadly, this isn’t ancient history.