Governor of Alabama apologizes…sorta

Robert Bentley must have been feeling some political heat. After openly announcing his sectarian bias in a MLK Day speech, Bentley has offered a not-pology.

If anyone from other religions felt disenfranchised by the language, I want to say I am sorry. I am sorry if I offended anyone in any way.

Jebus, but I hate that poor excuse for an apology. It happens all the time; someone says something stupid and wrong, and instead of saying, "I was wrong, I'm sorry and will try to change," they say, "I'm sorry you were offended by my remarks" — suddenly, the problem lies not in the error of the speaker but in the sensitivity of the listener.

That's not an apology. It's a transparent attempt to twist the blame to fall on everyone else but the person who made the mistake.

Even that's too generous: this wasn't a mistake. Bentley was honestly and intentionally expressing his views, as he has said, "speaking as an evangelical Christian to fellow Baptists." The man sincerely believes that his fellow superstitious louts are his special brothers and sisters who he has been elected to serve, and the riff-raff who don't go to his church are of lesser consideration.

That's what he needed to apologize for, and correct. He doesn't need to apologize for people finding offense in his stupidity and bias.

He especially doesn't need to apologize for that because pandering to a smug majority is what got him elected in the first place.

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... And he has apologized. He actually called the White House to apologize, and the apology was accepted by a high ranking staff member and presumably conveyed to the president. I just saw him speak of the "apology." If that was an apology, I'm the Queen of England.
Last year Christopher Monckton was threatening legal action if Naomi Oreskes did not apologize to Schulte:
You've gotta see this amusing post from Gribbit about Pope Benedict and his now-infamous statement about Islam being spread by the sword. He says the Pope shouldn't have to apologize for his remarks, which I agree with.
When Chad first asked me to guest blog here, my first response was that I didn't have anything to say. After a little thought, however, it occurred to me that this would be an opportunity to do a little exposition.