I want an apology...

[TheAnvil 0]

...not only from the NBA for refusing to let me try out for the Lakers, the Spurs, the Majik or any other team ('short man with no skill whatsoever' on my resume probably doomed me, but I'm the honest type).

Here's a nice article for the lefties wanting Bush to apologize for something:

Who wants to step up and apologize
Mona Charen

April 16, 2004

The president was asked at least four times at his press conference whether he wanted to take the opportunity to apologize for the 9-11 attacks. It was the press corps in full baying mode .

Apologies and blame are the themes of the week. On apologies, let's be aware that many are pure theater. Richard Clarke's recent apology for having failed to prevent 9-11 is Exhibit A. The import of the rest of Clarke's testimony was that he was the lone hero pushing for action who was ignored by his less farsighted colleagues. It was quite a performance. He apologized, but at the same time made it clear that, as far as he was concerned, he was the only one with nothing to apologize for.

President Clinton was good at apologizing -- but only for things that others had done, not for his own wrongdoing. He apologized, on behalf of the United States, for having supported dictators during the Cold War, for slavery and for racism. He never expressed contrition for failing to handle the terrorist threat, being snookered by the North Koreans, coddling Yasser Arafat or his many other missteps.

One questioner at the press conference allowed as how it was the word around town that the Bush administration "never admits a mistake." Well, this may have some truth to it. But, ahem, look who's talking! These are the same folks who brought you the story of 170,000 precious artifacts looted from the Iraqi National Museum under the noses of U.S. Marines. It turned out there were only about a dozen. Oops.

These are the people who warned us of the terrible Afghan winter and warned that our troops would face the same fate as those of the Soviet Union and Great Britain. These are the same people who declared that the Afghanistan campaign, three weeks on, had become a Vietnam-style quagmire. It was on the front page of The New York Times.

These are the also the people who brought you Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley. Kelley is the former star foreign correspondent for USA Today who was recently fired for fabricating stories.

Well, everybody makes mistakes, but members of the press are particularly arrogant and unwilling to confront them. The New York Times has finally appointed an ombudsman, but only in the teeth of strenuous objections from the staff.

Regarding blame, it is quite amazing to see how the press and the Democrats have succeeded, with a little help from a maladroit White House, in making the issue what Bush failed to do in the less than eight months he held office before 9-11. We can stipulate that he ought to have moved faster. But for the past few weeks, you could page through a newspaper or turn on the TV and hardly even guess that there was a Democratic administration in power for the eight years before 2000.

That's why it was bracing when Attorney General John Ashcroft reminded the 9-11 commission that Jamie Gorelick, a member of the commission who served in the Clinton Justice Department, had a key role in erecting one of the barriers that made Sept. 11 more likely. Gorelick, deputy attorney general, issued regulations that went "beyond what the law demands" to avoid an "unwarranted appearance" problem. In effect, these regulations significantly strengthened the "wall" between the investigative and prosecutorial arms of the government, forbidding them to speak to each other.

While we're assigning blame, it would be nice to hear a bit more about the role of political correctness. In 1997, the FBI reportedly wanted to shut down the Holy Land Foundation, a Muslim "charity" that was funneling money to terrorists. (It was shut down in 2001.)The Clinton administration demurred, according to U.S. News and World Report, because "they didn't want to come off as Muslim bashers."

In 2002, the Bush Justice Department announced that some visitors to the United States would be fingerprinted and photographed upon entry. Those hailing from countries with ties to terrorists would be asked to comply. Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois was quick off the mark: "It's going to reach a tipping point if we're not careful ... and end up sacrificing many of the values of our country." And James Zogby of the Arab American Institute declared, "The message it sends is that we're becoming like the Soviet Union ..."

A modest proposal: No more non-apology apologies and no more demands for others to apologize. We are all guilty. But the only way to judge whether someone has learned the lessons of his mistakes is how he conducts himself thereafter. If we were truly to learn the lessons of 9-11, we would jettison political correctness, house clean the intelligence agencies, get serious about immigration and send more troops to Iraq. Let's keep our eye on the ball.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[Nightingale 0]

I'm a leftie.

I don't think Bush should apologize for 9/11. He wasn't the one that flew a plane into a building.

[rehmwa 2]

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I'm a leftie.

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seen some of your positions - you don't sound leftie - more centrist to conservative (this is neither democrat or republican, just a bit right of center, not left)

edit: a rose by any other name and all that

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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[TheAnvil 0]

That's because Nightingale is cool.



I should have said 'many lefties' rather than 'lefties'. She is correct.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[Nightingale 0]

nope, I'm a leftie, at least socially. I'm a little more towards the moderate end of leftie, but I'm definitely not right wing and have only been able to bring myself to vote republican once in my life (and even then, it gave me the willies, but he was the best candidate for the job).

I'm pro-choice.
I'm pro gay rights
I'm pro religious tolerance
I'm against using the military for anything other than self defense
I favor basing laws and legislated morality on reason rather than tradition
I favor protecting the environment, even if its at the expense of businesses. We've only got one planet, ya know.

What makes me more of a moderate is that I think my money should stay in my pocket until I decide what to do with it. I recognize that some taxes are necessary to support a stable government and military, but don't take my money to feed the homeless. If I wish to do that, I will write the check myself (and I do!)


http://www.politicalcompass.org/ put me as somewhat left of moderate, and a not-too extreme libertarian

Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -1.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.62

[billvon 3,120]

I don't think Bush should apologize either. He didn't fly those planes into the WTC, and he clearly put some effort into trying to prevent terrorism.

But you have to admit that you made mistakes before you can not make them again. Everyone makes mistakes. Clarke made mistakes, Bush made mistakes, Rice made mistakes. It doesn't mean that any of them wanted 9/11 to happen, or that they weren't doing a good job otherwise. It just means they're human.

[TomAiello 26]

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nope, I'm a leftie, at least socially.

I'd be curious what your score is on the Libertarian Party's on-line Quiz.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Nightingale 0]

The dot showed me as centrist leaning towards left.

According to your answers, your political philosophy is centrist.

Centrist
Centrists favor selective government intervention and emphasize practical solutions to current problems. They tend to keep an open mind on new issues. Many centrists feel that government serves as a check on excessive liberty.

Your Personal Self-Government Score is 50%.
Your Economic Self-Government Score is 40%.

[rehmwa 2]

Fun tests

compass (I remember this posting)
econ 3.25
social 2.56

going to the other test.....

80 personal
100 economic

not that I don't have opinions or anything

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[pajarito 0]

Sure he's made mistakes Billvon, but this isn't about finding out what was wrong so that we can fix it. It's about the left getting Bush out of office. Making him appologize for 9-11, which he shouldn't have to do IMO, gives the left a big stick that they can shake at the Republicans. This shouldn't be a left or right issue. Bush isn't personally responsible for what happened and he responded appropriately to it. I really hate what this has turned into.

[billvon 3,120]

>Sure he's made mistakes Billvon . . .

If I thought he believed that I wouldn't worry. But he couldn't think of a single thing when asked what his biggest mistake had been (beyond trading Sammy Sosa, of course.) I really think that he feels he can't make mistakes, or that admitting mistakes is a sign of weakness.

>but this isn't about finding out what was wrong so that we can fix it.

That's what it's about for me. Do you want another 9/11?

>Making him appologize for 9-11, which he shouldn't have to do IMO,
>gives the left a big stick that they can shake at the Republicans.

I agree there. Trying to get an apology is pointless.

[Michele 1]

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That's what it's about for me. Do you want another 9/11?

Just how will a public apology from Bush accomplish that?

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[Nightingale 0]

I want him out of office. I don't think he's done a very good job.

BUT, 9/11 was not his fault, so he shouldn't apologize for it. Sure, we probably had some clues beforehand, but its not easy to put something like that together, and it's very easy to look back and say *d'oh! we should've known! It was not his fault. There are a lot of other things he's done that I don't like, but 9/11 has nothing to do with it.

[billvon 3,120]

>Just how will a public apology from Bush accomplish that?

As I've said, asking for an apology is silly. It will accomplish nothing. All I want to hear is "hey, we made some mistakes; we are making sure they will not happen again." As I mentioned before, when Bush was asked if he had made any mistakes pre-9/11, he couldn't think of a single one.

[pajarito 0]

Why do you think he didn't start listing mistakes during the news conference? Do you think they might not be playing on Democrat commercials all over the place right now? He's not as dumb as you think. That's a trap Billvon. Surely, you can see that. He did, like you said, say that he's made mistakes. He just didn't give them what they were looking for. I wouldn't.

[billvon 3,120]

>Why do you think he didn't start listing mistakes during the news
> conference? Do you think they might not be playing on Democrat
>commercials all over the place right now? That's a trap Billvon.

As his inability to mention even one mistake he made is getting top billing on many left-wing websites right now, it looks like he fell for it. Maybe he was just flustered, and maybe he is playing politics. Perhaps tomorrow he will come out and say "Hey, we made some mistakes, and we have fixed them so something like 9/11 will likely never happen again." That would be great; I hope that happens.

Admitting mistakes is hard, because they make you look bad to stupid people. Some people therefore never admit mistakes. That's a problem.

>He did, like you said, say that he's made mistakes.

Where did you see that?

[pajarito 0]

I watched the whole thing and he said that he was sure he'd made some mistakes but that he couldn't think of a particular one at that time. I didn't just make that up. What they’re looking for is something that they can use to primarily pin 9-11 on Bush. It’s wrong, illogical, baseless, and partisan. I'm hoping that the majority of educated Americans can see through that. Of course he made mistakes. So did Clinton. So has every president before them. What does that change?

[Jimbo 0]

Deleted because it's already been covered

-
Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[Zenister 0]

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Who wants to step up and apologize

the pope recently apologized for sacking Constantinople....

____________________________________
Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[billvon 3,120]

>the pope recently apologized for sacking Constantinople....

Didn't they apologize to Galileo recently as well?

[Nightingale 0]

Yes they did.

[Gawain 0]

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I'm a leftie.

seen some of your positions - you don't sound leftie - more centrist to conservative

Dude...she's gonna be a lawyer. Lawyer = Leftie.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[Kennedy 0]

The LP quiz gives a better representaion of me, as far as I am concerned. The longer one placed me on the center line just above the horizontal.

The LP quiz put me centered in Libertarian or bordering Centrist/Libertarian (I couldn't decide between a Maybe and a No) just to the right if center.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[lawrocket 3]

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"hey, we made some mistakes; we are making sure they will not happen again."

I agree with you. Maybe he should list out what things could have been done better, and what the plan is to do them better in the future. While he's at it, he should list what has been done well, and how to keep doign it well.

Simple stuff like that. He admits when something didn't work, but shows he's a man of action and is doing something about it.

But he won't do that. So I think he should be gone.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[akarunway 1]

Interesting site. I am the reincarnation of Ghandi

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.