Sunday, June 01, 2008

What we have here is a failure to communicate

Leftdog and Steve V, among others, have taken the time to point out that Lukiwski didn't even bother to respond to an invitation to this year's gay pride parade. But if we take a closer look at who Lukiwski may really have been apologizing to, his refusal to do anything to engage with the gay and lesbian community makes a lot more sense:
Let me conclude by saying that there is absolutely nothing I could say inside or outside of this assembly that would be an adequate apology to those people whom I have hurt. I deeply regret and I have deep remorse for my words of 17 years ago. I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, and all of my colleagues in this House that I will spend the rest of my career and my life trying to make up for those shameful comments.
Now, it's fair to say that if Lukiwski intended to make amends toward the gay and lesbian community, then he'd reasonably be expected to go out of his way to attend events like the gay pride parade - to say nothing of showing the common courtesy of responding to invitations or otherwise making the effort to talk to some of the groups who have reached out to him.

But note how careful Lukiwski was to avoid naming "those whom I have hurt", or saying what exactly he'd do to make up for the offence. If one looks at the "hurt" as referring instead to the political damage caused to the Cons by having part of their party's real mindset revealed, then Lukiwski has been a model of remorse - indeed, what better way to show one's penitence for allowing careless honesty to surface on tape than to hide away and keep one's mouth shut?

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