Dick Durbin Apologizes (updated)

Brit Hume just reported that Senator Dick Durbin has apologized for his remarks about Gitmo on the floor of the senate. FoxNews has the story.

"I am sorry if anything I said caused any offense or pain to those who have such bitter memories of the Holocaust, the greatest moral tragedy of our time. Nothing, nothing should ever be said to demean or diminish that moral tragedy.

"I am also sorry if anything I said cast a negative light on our fine men and women in the military ... I never ever intended any disrespect for them. Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line to them I extend my heartfelt apology,"

At one point Durbin was choked up during the speech and the apology seemed primarily directed at anybody who was "offended" by his remarks. That is to say, he didn't exactly say that he had been wrong, just that he regreted the offense.

UPDATE: Having had a chance to hear the apology a few times now I'll stick with my original assessment. While Durbin "regrets" the offense, the apology smacks more as a reult of getting caught than any true remorse ofer his remarks.

The Anti-idiotarian Rottweiler had this to say about the apology:

"If at first you don't succeed, bite your lips, drip glycerine in your eyes and try again..."

That just about sums it up as far as I'm concerned. Any real tears shed by Durbin more likely regard his political future as they do anything else.

That reminds me, can we move on from senators crying on the senate floor? A more sissified body I have never seen. We're at war, grow a spine for the love of Christ.

Pardon My English makes another salient point:

...this apology would never have happened if leading Democrats had anything to do with it.

In fact, while Durbin was busy with his tissues, Pelosi and Waxman were busy keeping the torch alive.

Daily Pundit has the apology that Durbin should have made, except that he is a Democrat:

He is a Senator, a Democrat, and a high Senate official. He's probably incapable of saying something meaningful, like, "I'm sorry I said what I said. It was wrong to compare American troops to Nazis, Stalinist gulag operators, and Pol Pot's attempt at genocide. I apologize to all of America for my shameful utterances."

Ya, right. Too much to expect. I know.

The Jawa Report, surprisingly, for a site that displayed so much righteous anger earlier in the week, is excepting the apology:

Durbin has apologized. I'm with Chris Short and Citizen Smash on this. I accept the apology at face value. Now let us see him try and undo all the damage that has been done.

Powerpundit sums it all up, in my opinion:

...Dick Durbin has still not admitted that he was wrong with his comparison. That is the key here. The apology is designed to remove the pressure from himself and the Democratic Party that refuses to repudiate him.

So, the tears, the quoting of Abe Lincoln (which almost made me physically ill), and all Durbin was really doing was protecting his backside, most likely. Then again, maybe he was crying about all of the Soros' dough that the American people, in their inability to understand his true meaning, cost him.

Whatever he is sorry for, he should still resign.