"Apologies"

Well, Representative McKinney issued what she's calling an "apology" today. It's not. And it's a good example of what politicians (and others) do when they screwed up, are too proud to admit it, but need to be politically expedient. You can tell a lot about someone's character by the way they apologize for something. Here's McKinney's:

"I come before this body to personally express, again, my sincere regret about the encounter with the Capitol Hill Police. I appreciate my colleagues who are standing with me, who love this institution and who love this country. There should not have been any physical contact in this incident. I have always supported law enforcement, and will be voting for H. Res. 756 expressing my gratitude and appreciation to the professionalism and dedication of the men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police. I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all and I regret its escalation. And I apologize."

So she once again expresses "regret." She did that before, in between her many dealt hands of race cards. OK. But my favorite is this phrase: "There should not have been any physical contact in this incident." I love it. It's not, "I shouldn't have hit the cop who was just doing his job." It was "I shouldn't have hit him, but he's equally if not more culpable because he ALSO made physical contact." Blaming the victim, even in part, is NOT an apology.

Then she refers to it as a "misunderstanding". It's not a misunderstanding. The cop understood that someone he didn't recognize and didn't have the right ID was rushing his checkpoint, and didn't stop when asked. He did his job, and she hit him. And then she called him a racist. And SHE was the only one who "escalated" anything. But again she used the passive voice, attempting to paint it as an unfortunate event over which she had no control. "There happened to be an escalation. To the extent that I don't like seeing that kind of thing, I'm sorry it happened." And the statement that she "has always supported law enforcement" is simply untrue. When you call the whole system of law enforcement racist, misogynistic practicers of racial profiling, that's not a show of support. (It makes me wonder if she also "supports our troops." If this is how she defines "support," it suddenly all makes sense.)

When politicians apologize, especially when they say stupid, racist, or offensive things, they always say, "I apologize if anyone was offended." Again, the underlying statement is, "I didn't do anything wrong. If you happen to be offended, I'm sorry that such a circumstance, which I am not responsible for, just happened to occur." They also really like to quickly add a "but." There's no such thing as a sincere apology with a "but" tacked on to it. "I'm sorry I wasn't completely forthright about an 'inappropriate relationship,' but none of this would have happened if it wasn't for Ken Starr. It's all his fault! And now that I've said I'm sorry, I can no longer be judged for this." What rubbish. Anyone who thinks this is sincere, well, I have some ocean view property in Arizona I'd like to sell you.

I hope the indictment goes forward, and I honestly hope she spends some time in jail.

The only believable apology would be this:

"I apologize for hitting the officer. He was doing exactly the right thing, and good for him for stopping me. I was wrong to ignore him, and wrong to hit him. But I am most ashamed of my actions afterwards. I acted like a coward, and made accusations of racism that are unfounded and unfair. I did this to protect myself politically. I am ashamed of myself. I've personally apologized to the officer. Also, I apologize for hiring a bodyguard, which was another political stunt, and even more for hiring one who would threaten a member of the news media. I am no longer worthy to hold this seat or to represent honorable people, and so today I am resigning from my seat. My presence harms America's perceptions of black leadership in this country, and so I can only hope my actions will in some way remedy this view. Thank you."

I won't hold my breath.