Why is it that public officials who make offensive, ignorant, racist, or intemperate statements feel they can erase those statements with a public apology? And why, for pete's sake do we keep demanding they do it?
Does anyone really believe that Mourdock, Aiken or the other Republican office holders and candidates too numerous to list didn't express their true beliefs when they made their jaw-droppingly moronic pronouncements about rape, abortion and how a woman's lady-parts work? And how about the many Republican officials, spokespersons and party stalwarts who have been caught out making blatantly racist comments about the President and his family? Who among us buys that these were mere slips of the tongue for which an "I'm sorry if anyone was offended" apology will wipe the slate clean? C'mon, show of hands, who thinks Mitt Romney didn't mean exactly what he said to his rich friends when he called 47% of Americans free-loading moochers who won't take responsibility for their lives?
No one does, which is why I'm calling for a public moratorium on all apologies issued by any of the idiots who get nailed in print or on video saying something hateful or stupid. The only thing they are apologizing for is the fact they got caught not for the sentiments behind the words they spoke. I, for one, don't want to hear another insincere and almost always half-hearted mea culpa rooted in damage control rather than real remorse.
That means that we on the progressive left have to stop demanding apologies from these miscreants - Ed Schultz, I'm talking to you - when they offend. By all means, point out the offense, in fact make a federal case out of it, but don't ask for an apology. It implies that an apology will atone for their ugly utterances.
Trust me on this, Ann Coulter is not sorry she called President Obama a retard, Rush Limbaugh is not sorry he called Sandra Fluke a slut and Sarah Palin is not sorry she accused President Obama of shuckin' and jivin'. These are mean-spirited, toxic representatives of a mean-spirited, toxic party. The only truly meaningful act of contrition they can offer is to remove their malignant presence from the public stage althogether.