Sorry for not being sorry

townhall.com ^ | 4/17/04 | Neil Cavuto

[kattracks]

So I'm watching the president's press conference this past week, and no fewer than six reporters mentioned the "a" word. Should the commander in chief apologize for 9/11? Should he apologize for Iraq? Should he apologize for not apologizing?

 OK, that last one I threw in. But you get my point. Saying you're sorry is all the rage. Richard Clarke started it when he apologized to the 9/11 victims' families for not doing more to prevent the attacks. Washington and the media ate it up.

 Frankly, I think the guy was playing to the crowd, and a very strident group of victims' families, who have sadly used the hearings to bash our war on terror. These folks get a great deal of coverage -- deservedly so for all their suffering. However, no one mentions those family members and friends of victims who are behind the president's ongoing war on terror; many of whom, including the solicitor general of the United States, who lost his wife in the attacks, get virtually no press attention.

 But bemoaning the slanted media isn't my point here; the issue of apologizing is.

 Why are we so fixated on someone, anyone, saying they're sorry?

 You know what I'm sorry about? I'm sorry about our sorry state of affairs, where we are more interested in blaming the guys who didn't see those planes coming on 9/11 than the folks who commandeered those planes on 9/11.

 I'm sorry we don't have the guts to say wars on terror aren't neat. They aren't clean. And oftentimes, they aren't clear.

 I'm sorry we don't have the tenacity to say that although this administration might have botched things, the terrorists ruined everything.

 I'm sorry that we live in a country that seems to put more value on playing political games than saving real lives.

 I'm sorry that in this election year we're more interested in looking in the rearview mirror than at the very real and present danger in our front window.

 I'm sorry for a nation that obsesses over things that will never bring 3,000 souls to life, while doing little to prevent other good souls from joining them.

 I'm sorry for a country that would let Franklin Roosevelt fight a great enemy after Pearl Harbor but wouldn't do the same for this president after 9/11.

 I'm sorry for a country that didn't focus on what FDR screwed up before Dec. 7, 1941, but can't let go of what GW might have screwed up before Sept. 11, 2001.

 Mistakes were made. Communications were missed. Opportunities were lost.

 They say dead men tell no tales. I disagree. I think dead men tell plenty of tales . . . about time wasted and priorities misplaced. I think dead men would look at the empty quest for an apology over acts done as secondary to girding ourselves for acts that could be done.

 I always have wondered what terrorists here and abroad think of our political infighting, of our unending quests for apologies, for things we didn't create but they perpetrated.

 Only in America can Osama bin Laden launch an attack, and we launch a national guilt complex. We don't ask him to say he's sorry. We prefer all of us just looking sorry.

 Many say it's a testament to our free and open society that we can criticize one another and demand apologies from one another.

 Some savor that. I frankly feel sorry -- for all of us -- for that.

©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

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[Petronski]

I always have wondered what terrorists here and abroad think of our political infighting, of our unending quests for apologies, for things we didn't create but they perpetrated.

I'm sure they're quite thrilled, whether they watch from Paris or Riyadh or Fajalluh or Najaf or Detroit or anywhere in between.

[Michael81Dus]

Actually, I have no understanding for this 9/11 panel - and I was wondering that it is such a big thing in the US media. I mean, this guy is correct in saying that the hijackers of the four planes on September 11 2001 should be blamed for the murder of 3,000 people - instead the US administrations (no matter wether Clinton or Bush)!

[Benrand]

I'd like to pre-emptively apologize to Sir David Gregory, NBC News, for the loogie that I am gonna hock into his hair without him knowing if I ever run into him in DC.

[HarryCaul]

Clarke was merely imitating his mentor, WJC. Clinton was Mr. Apology, which was just another way of saying "I feel your pain."

Of course, all the Democrats are doing are pursuing ad material, and the press are willing allies.

From an email I got from the Democratic Party (you do subscribe to their mailing list, don't you?):

---

New DNC Video: Mistakes Were Made
Dear XXXXXXXXX,

On Tuesday night, coming during one of the worst weeks of Bush's presidency, a reporter asked Bush what mistakes he had made and what lessons he had learned during his term in office. America watched as our president stammered and made jokes to avoid answering the question.

President Bush couldn't think of a single mistake. Well, we can.

Click here to watch our new DNC video: Mistakes Were Made.

---

Well, there you go. What the press questions were really all about.

[tkathy]

The entire world of Islam that contributes money for murder, and preaches vile hatred and murder in Arabic while giving lip service in English, is ultimately responsible.

[Glenn]

It's amazing that in a country of nearly 300 million people that the best the Democratic party can come up with is John Kerry propped up by a slathering press.

We're just not going to make it.

[MEG33]

Delicious thought!

[Blue Jays]

I'm sorry that we've morphed into a society that idolizes emasculated, sissified, touchy-feely men to the point that we cannot do difficult, gut-turning tasks on short order.

I'm sorry that our society becomes so overwrought that we must run to our therapists (it's actually chic to have one), get the opinion and approval of EVERYONE, drink our herbal teas, cry, blubber, and tremble without doing what needs to be done about a bloodthirsty and murderous sect.

Lastly, I'm sorry about the run-on sentences...but I was on a roll. Sorry.

~ Blue Jays ~

[doosee]

The reporters in the room, with just a couple of exceptions, were girly men without dresses. Hung up on apologies and not on who we are fighting. They can all go to the ladies room and pout till hell freezes over.

[jazzlite]

It looks like free promotion of Dick Clark's book. In addition, political grandstanding, in my view was the purpose. The Democrats pushed this in a political year. They thought they could blame President Bush for 9/11 and the American people would be ignorant enough with memories short enough to buy it. The lack of integrity and the hypocracy in those elected to office in this nations is very disturbing. They practice terrorism of the mouth which caricatures and ruins the life of their opponent, though a shread of truth may not be present in anything they say. When leadership is this corrupt, a nation is heading into mourning.

[jazzlite]

David Gregory, in my view, is a hateful, hostile and angry man. I have seen him many times and his thrust is nearly always what you saw against the President in that news conference. This is not journalism. It is rather, a position which allows an individual to push his personal political goals (my opinion).

[kcvl]

David Gregory is married to Beth Wilkinson, who was a prosecutor for the Justice Department (Jamie Gorelick), in the Oklahoma City bombing trials.

[Michael81Dus]

From my view, I would say this is not much different to other democratic nations. The Left always plays with tricks and deceptions.

[IrishRainy]

Wait, someone actually has sex with David Gregory...for free?

[Quilla]

Boy howdy, you just dropped a bomb in this thread. Great reporting, as usual.

[MEG33]

Some of the victims families demanded it and the Democrats thought it would be a perfect election year ploy.While many want to examine what went wrong so that methods of gathering intelligence can be improved,more safeguards against terror may be implemented,etc.,this has turned political and loses its value..

Clarke's book combined with TV interviews and his testimony was the beginning of the end for any semblance of non partisan objectivity.Questioning Dr. Rice as though she were a suspect added to the dis..ease and finding that one of the commissioners, had a role in making the wall taller and stronger to prevent intelligence/criminal investigation sharing was the end of all patience.

They realize they have caused a firestorm of disapproval and have been told to back off the partisan posturing.

[Benrand]

When I think of the bad coverage the guys get over in Iraq, and non-coverage of all the good things that have happened, I immediately think of that prick and his smarmy condescending tone when giving us his opinion under the banner of "news", or the opinion that he's been told to have.

He and Terry Moran are two guys who have NO PROBLEM with lying.

But,t hat's what you get int he news industry. Gotta keep the stories coming day in and day out. So lying is just fine.

I'd like to see those two a-holes be forced to say some of the bullsh*t they've said standing with a platoon of motviated Marines.

[Michael81Dus]

I realized how big this whole affair has become when all nation-wide TV news prepared on Sunday 4th of April the questioning of Dr. Rice on Thursday! It seemed as if there was nothing else... I hope for you that this mess ends soon.

[tuvals]

You are correct in that this 9/11 commission is nothing more then a political witch hunt. There are some out there who would believe anything the liberal media press prints and I call them the lasso people. You just put a lasso around them and pull them and they follow. They don't have the ability to think for themselves, make decisions and just gloat at being lead by the rope. I believe the term Muhammed Ali coined says it all "Rope-A-Dope". As for John Kerry, I wouldn't cast a vote for him if he were running for dog catcher as the man couldn't tell the difference between a dog and a jack ass. In my opinion the man would make a great pancake maker (Flip-Flop).