Don Fowler: My bad

By Jennifer J. Foster

Published: August 31, 2008

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?