Enough with repeating this phrase as an excuse for giving Gibson a pass!
A public personage who reveals a strain of racism is fair game for criticism, just as Jesus ripped the Pharisees for the burdens they put on the backs of their own people.
This is Gibson's statement the day after the event:
I...and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. I am deeply ashamed
I don't think you'd catch a Pharisee saying that.
The ones who are deserving of condemnation are those who continually act dishonorably...the Bill Mahrer type for example...who exhibit hateful attitudes toward people groups and go on for years about it. Gibson is different.
If he is caught engaging in the anti-Jewish rhetoric longer term I will change my opinion and say that he is truly a hateful guy. But because he expressed unqualified repentance for what he called "despicable" actions, I do not see him as a Pharisee-type.