Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), a top target of Democrats next year, came under fire Tuesday after he took to the Senate floor and defended Sen. Trent Lott’s (R-Miss.) 2002 comments that were interpreted by some as a defense of segregation.

Oregon and national Democrats and liberal bloggers pounced on Smith Tuesday after he said that Lott’s comments were “misconstrued.” They pointed out that immediately after the incident in 2002, Smith called Lott’s remarks “offensive.”

“I was celebrating my reelection and on vacation. I watched over international news as his words were misconstrued, words which we had heard him utter many times in his big warm-heartedness trying to make one of our colleagues, Strom Thurmond, feel good at 100 years old,” Smith said on the floor Tuesday.

“We knew what he meant,” Smith added. “But the wolf pack of the press circled around him, sensed blood in the water, and the exigencies of politics caused a great injustice to be done to him and to [his wife] Tricia. It was a wrong, but a wrong that was righted.”

Lott made those comments at the 100th birthday party of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.). Many saw the remarks as an endorsement of Thurmond’s segregationist presidential platform in 1948. Lott was subsequently pushed out of his Senate leadership post.

“I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him,” Lott said at the time.

“We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years, either.”

Shortly after Lott was pushed out of his leadership position, Smith said he was “deeply dismayed” to hear Lott’s comments.

“His statement goes against everything I and the people of Oregon believe in,” Smith said. And shortly after Lott resigned as majority leader, Smith said Lott’s resignation was “courageous,” adding that segregation is “a relic of American history that is detestable to me.”

Since 2002, however, Smith has defended Lott, saying he believes in “redemption.” Last year, Smith was one of two senators to give a speech nominating Lott as minority whip.

Later Tuesday, Smith said in a statement that he continues to believe that Lott was wrong in 2002.

“As I have always said, what Trent Lott said was wrong, and he has admitted the mistake and apologized for it,” Smith said. “As he retires from the Senate, I think it is appropriate to reflect on the fact that he was able to overcome that mistake.”

Oregon Democrats and their national counterparts were quick to follow the blogosphere in condemning Smith’s floor comments Tuesday.

The Democratic Party of Oregon called Smith the “say-anything senator,” accusing him of flip-flopping on Lott’s comments.

Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said that Smith has a long history of changing his rhetoric depending on his audience.

“But flip-flopping on segregation is a stretch even for him,” Miller said. “I think these comments would be viewed as way out of line by most Oregonians.”

Smith is one of several Republican senators up for reelection next year whom Democrats are targeting.

Democratic state House Speaker Jeff Merkley, who is favored by the national Democrats over his primary opponent Steve Novick, is trailing Smith in the latest polls out of Oregon.

A Riley Research poll released this week shows Smith beating Merkley 39 percent to 12, with an Independent candidate pulling 14 percent.