As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, former Democratic National Committee chairman Don Fowler now says he’s oh-so-sorry for those remarks about how the timing of Hurricane Gustav’s arrival—Day 1 of the Republican National Convention—proves that God’s on the Democrats’ side.
“If this offended anybody, I personally apologize,“ Fowler told ABC News. “It was a mistake, and it was a satirical statement made in jest. And one that I clearly don’t believe.“
And just whom was Fowler supposedly satirizing?
Why, Jerry Falwell, of course!
(It’s always a bonus for liberals when they can get a good dig in against the religious right—even, apparently, if the target of ridicule is dead.)
But Fowler get extra points: In the midst of personally apologizing, he blames the “right-wing nutcase,“ his fellow passenger who taped the statements, for putting the tape on the Internet for the world to see.
In other words, you wouldn’t have even known about this if this guy behind me hadn’t taped it, so don’t blame me!
It begs the question: Can you really be taking responsibility for something if you’re blaming others—even a little bit—for what happened?
And, as an extension of that, can your apology be taken seriously if you’re not taking complete responsibility for the action for which you are apologizing?
Yes, RSN is a partisan site. But it’s enlightening to hear two high-level Democratic officials—former national party chairman Don Fowler and U.S. Rep. John Spratt—share their opinions on newly minted GOP VP pick Sarah Palin.
According to the RSN observer, the two agreed that “Other than the simple fact that she’s a female,“ Palin has nothing to offer.
I might have missed it, but I haven’t heard any outrage from the National Organization for Women over this overtly sexist comment.
The statement is even more notable because Fowler supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.
Maybe it was just because she’s a woman.
And there’s more.
Listen to what Fowler has to say about Hurricane Gustav’s expected arrival in New Orleans on Monday—the same day the Republican National Convention begins in Minneapolis-St.Paul:
Did you catch it?
The timing of Gustav “just demonstrates God’s on our side,“ Fowler says.
Imagine for a moment that a Republican official had said that the flooding in Florida from Tropical Storm Fay, earlier this week during the Democratic National Convention, was an indication that “God’s on our side.“
Yeah—Keith Olbermann would have been blubbering with sanctimonious outrage as he beat you over the head with it.
John McCain has selected Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. (I’d give you the official bio from her gubernatorial web site, but it was down when I looked for it.)
I’m writing my column for tomorrow’s Opelika-Auburn News on this subject, so I won’t get into analysis here, but suffice it to say that Palin’s pick isn’t the surprise it appears at first blush—and the McCain campaign is playing it—to be.
If you’re near a TV, check out her first appearance on the national stage as a VP candidate today at noon eastern on any of your cable news networks.
I’m one of the many observers who will be interested to see how the ticket looks on stage and how Palin introduces herself to the national media.
Former President Jimmy Carter has once again demonstrated the absurdity that helped him accomplish his impressive slide into irrelevance. From USA Today:
Former president Jimmy Carter called Republican presidential candidate John McCain a “distinguished naval officer,“ but he said the Arizona senator has been “milking every possible drop of advantage” from his time served as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Carter ... said he was bewildered by McCain’s performance at the Saddleback Presidential Forum hosted by pastor and author Rick Warren in Lake Forest, Calif., earlier this month.
Carter said that whether he was asked about religion, domestic or foreign affairs, every answer came back to McCain’s 5½ years as a POW.
“John McCain was able to weave in his experience in a Vietnam prison camp, no matter what the question was,“ Carter said. “It’s much better than talking about how he’s changed his total character between being a senator, a kind of a maverick … and his acquiescence in the last few months with every kind of lobbyist pressure that the right-wing Republicans have presented.“
(Read the article and see the complete interview here.)
You know, I haven’t spent five and a half years being tortured in a dark prison cell in North Vietnam, so I’m just guessing here, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that for people who have, that experience permeates their entire being and bears on everything they do.
Jimmy Carter has set a new bar for presumptuousness—and with his record, that’s saying something.
