Subscribe to my Feed
« Why didn’t Tampa police apologize faster to Brian Sterner? | Home | Muskogee nursing home’s failure to apologize triggers a predictable lawsuit »
Senator Bunning’s public statement was NOT an apology
By Lauren | February 25, 2009
Today’s “Foot in Mouth Award” goes to Senator Jim Bunning for his prediction during a recent speech that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will die within a year of pancreatic cancer, and for the fumbled apology that followed. Justice Ginsburg underwent surgery earlier this month for what doctors characterized as a small tumor on her pancreas that, thankfully, was caught early. She was back in court only 18 days later, putting a lie to rumors that her health might force her to step down immediately from the Supreme Court.
Washington being what it is, a favorite party game in town is predicting which Justices will leave the Supreme Court in the next four years and who’ll be appointed to replace them. Justice Ginsburg’s recent surgery has had a lot of pundits speculating about whether and when she’ll retire. Still, it was tacky at best for Senator Bunning, a Hall-of-Fame major league baseball pitcher who may have a great arm but who doesn’t have a medical degree, to predict her death in an open forum.
Senator Bunning could have saved himself, however, if he’d actually apologized for his gaffe by telling Justice Ginsburg herself, in person or by phone, that he was sorry for what he’d said. Instead, Senator Bunning did the typical politician’s side-step: a public statement instead of a private conversation with the deadly word “if” prominently displayed. (In this case, “I’m sorry if my comments offended Justice Ginsburg”). What did he mean, “if”? Obviously, Senator Bunning recognized that his comments were offensive, or he wouldn’t have felt compelled to issue a public statement. There was no “if” about it.
No one is more into the spin game than politicians who are running for office, which Senator Bunning apparently plans to do in 2010. When politicians issue general statements of the “I’m sorry if someone was offended” stripe, they’re just trying to persuade the voters that they have enough human feeling to care about anything other than getting re-elected. Maybe that kind of half-hearted public mea culpa makes a difference on Election Day. Just don’t call it an apology.
Topics: Apologies, Personal Ethics, Social Ethics, ethics |
February 27th, 2009 at 3:50 am
Exactly right, Lauren.
It wasn’t an apology, it was a pathetic excuse to smooth over the issue.
I don’t know how the majority of voters in your country would feel, but if I were a voter, I would not be particularly impressed.
Personally, I only have respect for politicians who have the courage to get up, acknowledge their mistakes and make a proper apology. I have no respect for ’smooth over’ types of apologies.
And again, I don’t know how voters in your country feel, but I personally vote only for those whom I respect.
March 5th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
[...] presents Senator Bunning’s public statement was NOT an apology posted at The Business Ethics Blog, saying, “Senator Bunning predicts a Supreme Court [...]