How to not really say sorry Bush style

Sunday, April 22, 2001

Hillary Bray writes:

Hillary has spawned some apprentice columnists and this one is first class.

Now your average Washingtonian couldn’t really care for whom the Australians root — although listening to Dubya get his tortured syntax around that statement might be fun.

But your more liberal Libs have to be very, very impressed by a precedent Dubya has now set and which they would love little Johnnie Howard to pull off.

It’s all to do with those awful Chinese. Well whether they’re awful is a very complex question depending on whether we’re trying to sell them something or trying to fulfil our key role as the region’s Deputy Sheriff.

You see, after the US spy plane was downed and the crew returned, the US State Department, the Presidential spin doctors and the US media all agreed that one thing the Yanks had most definitely, categorically had not done was to apologise.

The did say they had deep regrets. They even said — twice — that they were “very sorry”. But, they insisted, they didn’t apologise.

Just think what this means for Howard? If he really admires the Republicans so much he can follow their lead and utter the seemingly impossible word — “sorry” — and still claim he hasn’t apologised.