The Trouble With Apologies - Why won't Bush say he's sorry?

Time Magazine ^ | April 19, 2004 | Charles Krauthammer

[upchuck]

Once again, Charlie lays the hammer right on the nail.

[Tropicalwatcher]

These libreals make me sick! War is coming keep pushing it :(

[Route66]

Do we want someone who sits around second guessing himself or a man who takes all the info at his disposal and leads. Just one "I'm sorry for....." from him and his opponents will crucify him with it. I'm certainly glad he has not bought into this lame blame game.

[liberallarry]

Krauthammer nails it.

Wartime failures shouldn't be characterized that way. In war - more than in most areas of life - one must act fast on incomplete information. Success is far from guaranteed and continued and unbroken success is miraculous.

But I would like to know why we didn't do more to stop the post-conquest looting. That was extremely damaging to our subsequent efforts.

[RobbyS]

I recall a president who made plenty of mistakes and never admitted one. His name was Lincoln.

[Mike4Freedom]

Iraq was a country utterly ruined by Saddam Hussein.

I think that the bombs that the US dropped had something to do with ruining the county. Don't you?

[marron]

I don't want Bush to be my daddy, I elected him to lead.

I don't want him to apologize for what my enemies have done, I want him to hunt them down and destroy them.

[liberallarry]

I wish more people would start comparing Bush to Churchill, FDR and Truman

Forget it. They all took their share of unfair, uninformed, and partisan criticism. Bush will have to take his.

[marron]

No.

[VadeRetro]

What was the next morning's Washington Post headline? WOLFOWITZ GIVES NUANCED ASSESSMENT OF IRAQ SITUATION? No. WOLFOWITZ CONCEDES IRAQ ERRORS, followed by a brief for the Administration's critics.

What the presstitutes at that news conference wanted was for Bush to make an ad for the Kerry campaign, the most effective one that it could ever have. Bush didn't feel like it and certainly was not obligated to do so.

[RobbyS]

The embargo/Saaddam's neglect did more to ruin the country than our military campaign. Bagdad was essentially intact when our troops rolled into the city.

[TheLion]

Bush should have asked the reporters to apologize for their biased war coverage and the dumb questions they keep asking.

[Spok]

Clinton had a very clear policy on apologies-he only apologized for things that happened before he was born.

[Mike4Freedom]

I recall a president who made plenty of mistakes and never admitted one. His name was Lincoln.

Yup, an apt comparison. Of course George hasn't killed nearly as many as Abe did but give him time.

Abe put his political enemies in jail without charge. This included newspaper editors. George has only done this to a handful of "enemy combatants". Political enemies have only been punished by getting on the yellow list so that they are harrassed at airports. Abe did not have airport security avaiable as a punishment.

[ladyinred]

Very good article!
I hope the President doesn't ever apolgize for anything, unless it is for not busting a few media members in the chops!

[lizma]

Did you know that Clintoon apologized to the Hawaiian for our "occupation"?

Of coarse he never would apologize for anything that happened on his watch. More like "Hey Janet, We need you to due your stooge thing again."

[sinkspur]

Political enemies have only been punished by getting on the yellow list so that they are harrassed at airports.

Political enemies?

They're terrorist suspects, son. And they should be harassed.

[sport]

Why should he say he is sorry?