There’s a trend in American life, particularly in political life but you see it elsewhere, to “apologize” without actually apologizing for anything or admitting that you screwed up.

Here’s Senator George Allen’s “apology” statement, who I wrote about the other day…

“I’m concerned that my comments at Breaks Interstate Park on August 11th have been greatly misunderstood by members of the media.

“In singling out the Webb campaign’s cameraman, I was trying to make the point that Jim Webb had never been to that part of Virginia – and I encouraged him to bring the tape back to Jim and welcome him to the real world of Virginia and America, outside the Beltway, where he has rarely visited. I also made up a nickname for the cameraman, which was in no way intended to be racially derogatory. Any insinuations to the contrary are completely false.

“Yesterday, I apologized to anyone who may have been offended by the misinterpretation of my remarks. That was certainly not my intent. On every stop on my Listening Tour – I have talked about one of my missions for this country – to make it a land of opportunity for all. I have worked very hard in the Senate to reach out to all Americans – regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity or gender. And I look forward to continuing to advocate this important mission for America’s future.

“I never want to embarrass or demean anyone and I apologize if my comments offended this young man. Even though he has signed onto my opponent’s campaign, I look forward to seeing him on the trail ahead.”

That was on Monday, when this incident had blown up in proportion.

Note how he “apologizes”. He apologizes- but it’s not dependent on whether or not HE screwed up, it’s an apology “if he (S.R. Sidarth, the guy he called ‘Macaca’) was offended”. In other words, it’s not about whether or not Allen screwed up; Allen isn’t admitting to having done anything wrong; it’s the OTHER GUY who’s offended, and gosh, Allen feels bad if that’s the case.

It’s not Allen’s fault; he didn’t say anything wrong, instead, it was the media that misunderstood him.

That, folks, is a non-apology apology. Allen also tried to say that some of his remarks weren’t aimed at Sidarth, but instead were aimed at Allen’s opponent, Jim Webb, when he pointed at Sidarth and said…

Let’s give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.

The irony here is that Sidarth was born and raised in Virginia, while Allen was born and raised in California. Sidarth should be welcoming Allen, not the other way around.

But when you watch the video, it’s pretty much clear as a bell- Allen is referring to Sidarth, welcoming Sidarth to America and Virginia. How arrogant, and how disgusting (and typical politician) to pretend that wasn’t the case and that he was just talking about Webb.

Watch the video yourself, and decide what you think he was saying. Then re-read his statement, and see if that’s any kind of apology.