Yea. A lot of folks don't believe that he made a blunder or mistake in his comments. That he actually believes what he said, just that his phrasing was perhaps not ideal. His apology appears to reflect this. Actually, he didn't release an apology, he released a statement that he misspoke during the interview. So, considering he did not apparently retract his comment... Uhm. Wow.
Hard to blame the media on this one. You could easily blame the media if he acknowledged that he said something stupid, offensive and apparently not scientifically valid. He didn't retract anything. Or acknowledge that his comments were "insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong." (According to Romney) Even the "My comments were taken out of context" trick wouldn't fly here.
I'm frankly surprised by how many folks here are not understanding the depths of how badly this guy screwed up. The correct answer when "your side" screws up to this extent is not to whine that the "other side" does horrible things to. The correct answer to this particular incident is to direct hellfire on target. Evil is evil. "But he is one of us, so he should get leniency!" I personally reject this view. I always hold any affiliation or associate to a higher morality. Or I cast them out.
"I am just not seeing the outrage or the insult."
I have no words to even begin to articulate the depths of how wrong this entire thought process is. LadySmith gave it a valid and worthy try. My hats off to you, LS. Same goes for the jokes about women as appliances in this context. I believe everything should be subject to humor, because the horrors of reality are best faced with humor. But decorum says a lot as well. A joke about a dead friend at the bar is one thing, often of sad but affectionate remember. Said at the person's funeral, it could easily be seen as a direct and cutting insult depending on the delivery. Even the same words, inflected in two different ways, could be answered (correctly, from my morality) with a friendly pat on the back or excellent shot placement to the nasal cavity.
Timing, decorum and perception (or intentional lack thereof) say much about a person's morality.
Respectfully, that's why I carry and encourage others to carry. Because not everyone on the planet has a fully developed sense of morality, in that equal baseline treatment should be extended to every human until that human personally does something to alter the balance. APS members, in my opinion, are generally more honorable than most random collections of folks that I've ever met. But even here, there are gaps of perception. I would say honor or morality, but that's merely my perception. While likely or hopefully not dangerous, always something to keep in mind.
