Lynn C. Woolsey: “it is one of the first lessons we are taught as children, how and when to apologize for doing something wrong. Our…”

“it is one of the first lessons we are taught as children, how and when to apologize for doing something wrong. Our capacity for saying I am sorry is part of what makes us a functioning and civilized society. My parents always said I should apologize for hurting someone. But they never insisted that I apologize simply for pointing out when someone else was doing something bad or wrong. Yet, here in Washington all of the sudden every time a Democrat uses strong rhetoric to condemn the policies of the Bush administration, there is a relentless pressure from the Republicans for an apology. Maybe my memory is failing me, but I just do not recall any apologies when opponents of the Iraq war had their patriotism questioned. Now with a new poll showing that 63 percent of the American people want the troops to come home in the next year, maybe the right wing message machine owes an apology to nearly two out of three Americans. The fact is their apology demands on Democratic dissenters is just a convenient way to change the subject, to avoid any kind of question about the merits of the Iraq war and the way it has been managed. And why do they want to avoid that discussion? Because the American people have completely lost confidence in the administration's Iraq policy. Instead of apologizing for words, it is time we started demanding apologies for deeds. Where, for example, is the apology for the deaths of more than 1,700 Americans?…”