A 'Sorry' State of Affairs

Oct. 31, 2007 — -- Justice Department official John Tanner came before Congress this week to apologize for what were construed as racially insensitive comments about minorities having shorter life spans than whites.

"I want to apologize for the comments I made," said Tanner, chief of the Voting Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

Tanner was merely engaging in what has become a ritual in American public life -- the carefully rendered apology. There are many ways to do it.

The 'Mea Culpa' Apology

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, for one, chose the "Path to Jesus," mea culpa version saying his dog-fighting scandal brought him to the Lord.

"Through this situation I found Jesus and asked him for forgiveness and turned my life over to the Lord," he told the press after entering a guilty plea to dog-fighting conspiracy charges.

Of course, such a road is not without its "sinners" either, in which case you have the mesmerizing "Tearful Sermon Apology."

After admitting to a "sin" involving a prostitute, Swaggart stood before a congregation of 7,000 at his Baton Rouge, La., Family Worship Center and wept, confessing to a "moral failure."

"I have sinned against you, my Lord. And I would ask that your precious blood would wash and cleanse every stain until it is in the seas of God's forgetfulness."

The Talk Show Confessional

Celebrities have the option of the Talk Show Confessional -- as in 1985 when Hugh Grant went on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," to apologize for soliciting a prostitute.

"In the end you have to come clean and say 'I did something dishonorable, shabby, and goatish,'" Grant told the audience.

The Talk Show Confessional was also Mel Gibson's choice, who went on a prime time special to apologize for the anti-Semitic rant he unleashed following an arrest for driving under the influence. When asked by ABC News' Diane Sawyer if all he could do was say sorry, Gibson replied: "Yeah, you do. I've apologized more than anyone I know. So it's getting old."

Outright Denial

In Washington, D.C., however, apologizing can be seen as weakness, and so the reaction is often righteous denial, as was the case with Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who was accused of engaging in lewd conduct with a male undercover police officer in a Minneapolis airport bathroom stall.

"I am not gay. I have never been gay," he affirmed to reporters.

Former President Bill Clinton used denial during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, famously claiming, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

He later gave way to the "Regrets -- I Have a Few" not quite an apology-apology.

In an Oval Office address to the nation he said, "I misled people, including my wife. I deeply regret that."

The Non-Apology Apology

Politicians prefer any number of variants of the non-apology apology -- the classic being the linguist construct "mistakes were made," first made famous during Watergate then later adopted by President Reagan after news of the Iran-Contra scandal broke.

Alberto Gonzales used this linguist construct in his March congressional testimony regarding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

"I acknowledge that mistakes were made here," he said

President Bush also acknowledged that mistakes were made at Abu Ghraib prison in a May 2004 interview with Alhurra TV. "It's also important for the people of Iraq to know that in a democracy, everything is not perfect, that mistakes are made," he said.

These passive acknowledgements of error -- once called the "past exonerative" tense -- are commonplace in politics. So it is no surprise that John Tanner employed the non-apology apology, faulting himself not for what he said, but for the way he said it.

Responding to a question from Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., Tanner clarified that rather than apologizing for what he said he was "apologizing for my tone."

More specifically, the tone he used in comments made during a panel discussion on minority voters in Los Angeles.

Trying to explain his view of why seniors and minorities have different voting issues, Tanner said, "our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first."

His apology for "tone" apparently wasn't good enough for Rep. Ellison, who wanted clarification.

Ellison: "So the problem is the tone?"

Tanner: "I certainly had a bad tone and clumsiness."

Ellison pressed further, refusing to accept the non-apology without a fight.

"I don't know what you're apologizing for? You say that you were right, but your tone was wrong. I don't know what you're saying you're sorry for," Ellison asked Tanner.

Tanner ultimately triumphed with his non-apology, concluding with: "I feel that I make remarks that people misinterpret."

Ellison, still wanted clarification, stating "So people misinterpreted what you said," to which Tanner replied "I apologized for that."

For Tanner, as with so many in the nation's capital, it seems power can mean never having to say you're sorry.