A Randy Apology

So, you'll recall that yesterday I wrote a long piece slamming the pathetic tweet sent out by Rep. Randy Weber, Republican Congressman from Texas, for comparing the President of the United States to Adolf Hitler, for not doing what the Nazi Fuhrer did, go into Paris.  It was blunt, pointed and pathetic, when he wrote --

"Even Adolph Hitler thought it more important than Obama to get to Paris. (For all the wrong reasons.) Obama couldn't do it for right reasons," .  

Well...

It turns out that Rep. Weber apparently got so much criticism that today he did something rare for a Republican in Congress these days -- he not only didn't "double down" and stand by his stand, he actually put out a fairly long public apology.

That's how rough the reaction must have been.

What the Congressman's staff sent out was --

“I need to first apologize to all those offended by my tweet. It was not my intention to trivialize the Holocaust nor to compare the President to Adolf Hitler. The mention of Hitler was meant to represent the face of evil that still exists in the world today. I now realize that the use of Hitler invokes pain and emotional trauma for those affected by the atrocities of the Holocaust and victims of anti-Semitism and hate.

The terrorist attacks in Paris should remind us of the evil that still exists. Hitler was the face of evil, perpetrating genocide against six million Jews and millions of other victims. Today, we are facing the evil of Islamic extremists who are attempting to instill fear and murdering the lives of innocent people from Paris to Nigeria to Jerusalem and all over the world. The President’s actions or lack thereof is my point of contention. Islamic extremists have shown they are not going away, and instead are hungry for more blood.

After World War II, the world made a commitment to ‘Never Again’ allow terror free reign. As demonstrated by the Paris Peace Rally, we must all –Christians, Jews, Muslims, leaders around the world and those willing to fight for freedom – unite and stand strong together against radical extremism in any form."

Now, there's good and bad to this.

The good is that he sent out an apology, period.  And he apologized to everyone he offended, not merely those "if" he offended them.  And he said some very nice, thoughtful things about peace and brotherhood and fighting hatred.

Now, the bad.

It was so disingenuous that it makes my teeth ache.  Of course his intention was to compare the President to Adolf Hitler.  That's what it says.  Repeatedly.  For most of the tweet.  "The mention of Hitler" had absolutely nothing to do with having to "represent the face of evil" in the world today.  It was to find a way to slam President Obama.  The only point of evil he wanted to get across was his opinion of Barack Obama.

Indeed it's pretty easy to know that the mention of Hitler had everything to with comparing Hitler to the President and being as critical of Mr. Obama as possible simply because Randy Weber has a long history of sending out such tweets, like his tweet from last January 28 when he wrote --

"On floor of house waitin on 'Kommandant-In-Chef'... the Socialistic dictator who's been feeding US a line or is it 'A-Lying?'"

And seriously, are we expected to believe that Rep. Weber only just now -- only today -- has finally for the first time "now realized that the use of Hitler invokes pain and emotional trauma" for victims of the Holocaust and anti-Semitism and hate??????  He's 61 years old.  What on earth did he think, for the past 60 years and 364 days, up until yesterday, that the use of Hitler represented ?!!  A guy for Mel Brooks to make fun of?  Perhaps just someone who merely went to Paris for the wrong reasons?  (And what wrong reasons might those have been?)

There are two possibilities here -- either Randy Weber knows full-well what the use of Adolf Hitler represents and he is therefore "A-Lying"...or he truly doesn't know and has acknowledged woeful and egregious utter ignorance.


In the end, for all the lovely words about peace on earth, good will to all men, and kumbaya merely says he realizes "now" that using the name of Hitler was a bad reference.  Not he was wrong and thoughtless and out of line to have done so.  Not that he did anything hurtful, mind you, just that the name itself is hurtful.

But, yes, I'm glad he released an apology of some sort.  That was a good thing, of some sort.