To dip briefly into the Botchgate fray, when Bush called for an apology from Kerry during a campaign stop in Georgia yesterday it marked the tenth time that the word “apology” has been used in official speeches or remarks by the President and VP in their nearly six years in office. (“Apologize” shows up 24 times, mostly when the press apologize for interrupting, Bush for inconveniencing folks with his bike riding, etc.) Bush has always ducked from apologizing or taking any onus where things go awry, in Iraq and elsewhere.
It’s not like he hasn’t been asked:
April 13, 2004 – Question re 9/11 Intelligence:
Q Two weeks ago, a former counterterrorism official at the NSC, Richard Clarke, offered an unequivocal apology to the American people for failing them prior to 9/11. Do you believe the American people deserve a similar apology from you, and would you be prepared to give them one?
THE PRESIDENT: Look, I can understand why people in my administration anguished over the fact that people lost their life. I feel the same way. I mean, I’m sick when I think about the death that took place on that day. And as I mentioned, I’ve met with a lot of family members and I do the best I do to console them about the loss of their loved one. As I mentioned, I oftentimes think about what I could have done differently. I can assure the American people that had we had any inkling that this was going to happen, we would have done everything in our power to stop the attack.
Here’s what I feel about that. The person responsible for the attacks was Osama bin Laden. That’s who’s responsible for killing Americans. And that’s why we will stay on the offense until we bring people to justice.
April 6, 2006 – Response to a Question re NSA Wiretapping:
THE PRESIDENT: I’d like to describe that decision I made about protecting this country. You can come to whatever conclusion you want. The conclusion is I’m not going to apologize for what I did on the terrorist surveillance program, and I’ll tell you why. We were accused in Washington, D.C. of not connecting the dots, that we didn’t do everything we could to protect you or others from the attack. And so I called in the people responsible for helping to protect the American people and the homeland. I said, is there anything more we could do.
June 14 2006 – Question re Plamegate:
Q Mr. President, when you ran for office for the first time, you said you would hold the White House to a higher ethical standard. Even if Karl Rove did nothing illegal, I wonder whether you can say now whether you approve of his conduct in the CIA leak episode, and do you believe he owes Scott McClellan or anyone else an apology for misleading them?
THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate the job that the prosecutor did. I thought he conducted himself well in this investigation. He took a very thorough, long look at allegations and rumors. And I, obviously, along with others in the White House, took a sigh of relief when he made the decision he made. And now we’re going to move forward. And I trust Karl Rove, and he’s an integral part of my team.
Katrina, Iraq, the list goes on. No apologies.
