> What Amerikans have really pioneered, is the non-apology apology.
> "I am sorry if anyone was offended by remarks", which implies
> that the problem wasn't really with what I said but rather with
> some people's reactions to it. In other words, an insecere
> apology.
I think the sincere apology is even worse. Anybody remember poor Jesse Jackson apologizing, as a friend of mine observed at the time, for "bleeding on the master's carpet"?
With the insincere, polite apology, you keep your self-respect. The sincere apology grovels, and is only appropriate as directed to somebody you're sleeping with, after having pee'd on the carpet in a drunken stupor.
-- --
Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://www.cars-suck.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com
"I think the American people want a solemn ass as a President, and I think I will go along with them."
-- Barack Obama
(Okay, okay, it was really Calvin Coolidge.)