[George W. Bush]

Falwell achieved something rather unique. His statement angered about 75% of all Americans. His apology angered the 25% who had agreed with his initial statement.

He shouldn't have apologized. I'm not sure his statement was correct or that God had revealed to Falwell His purposes in allowing or possibly causing the WTC/Pentagon attack. But he should have stuck with it anyway. Apologizing made him even more unpopular and those who wanted the apology didn't forgive him anyway.

[steve-b]

those who wanted the apology didn't forgive him anyway

That's because he started out with a weaseley "I'm sorry if anyone was offended..." pseudo-apology worthy of Clinton. By the time he uttered a real apology, it was clear that he was only sorry that he'd gotten caught (again, like Clinton).