As I've noted previously, a few years back the eminent Nell Minow and I founded the two-person Apology Institute of America. We have a new submission for study, and it's a notable one for being based on a subject I've been writing about here and on social media.
Katie Porter gave an interview this week on the podcast Pod Save America and apologized for saying the CA primary, in which she finished third and knocked out of the general election, was "rigged." Good for her for apologizing -- though I suspect it was because she was taking a lot of heat for her comment and felt it could be trouble, not any self-realization. “Obviously, I wish I had chosen a different word," she said. "Because what happened with the controversy was it took away from two really important truths: One, our California election officials do a terrific job. I have been through competitive, close elections where it has taken days to count. So I have tremendous respect for them. So ... want to really make clear that at no time and in no way would I ever suggest that there's anything other than a careful, thoughtful, amazing election system that actually should be the model for a lot of the country, in my opinion.” Her addressing the subject and apologizing needed to be said. It also needed to be said weeks ago, since the primary was March 5. Waiting two weeks to apologize is a really long time. And what that says to me is she most-likely apologized because she was taking a lot of heat for it (not just in the public, but more importantly from within the party) and felt that it could be trouble for her political future, rather than because of any self-realization of “Oh, God, what was I thinking??!” And she does have an important political future. As I’ve noted, I could see her getting a position in the Biden Administration, if he wins re-election, perhaps as Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs. She'd be great in that. Or she could run for statewide office in California, where she’d have solid public support – even a run for governor, which will be open when Gov. Newsom’s term expires, since the state has term limits. That said, her apology – while good and important to make -- not only strikes me as late, but seriously thin, not much more than one substantive sentence. Yes, choosing that word “rigged” was a huge mistake, because we’ve been hearing Trump say it for three years, and it’s hard to miss that. And miss its context. But also, the problem wasn’t just that she “chose” the wrong word – but what she was complaining about in her apology was a continuation of her slam against the primary winner Adam Schiff for her charge that he ran a deceitful campaign (despite him using a pretty standard, accepted tactic of wanting to run against your weakest opponent, so that you can win) and improperly used corporate donations (despite her having accepted money from him when she ran for the House). Further, nowhere in any articles I read about her apology was there mention of her endorsing Schiff or even referencing him, odd most-especially since he will be running for the U.S. Senate against a conservative, inexperienced Republican. Perhaps she did say so, and it just didn’t get reported. Though it seems unlikely that something that important would be left out from long articles in the Los Angeles Times, on the NBC News website, in New York magazine and more.. Supporting the weakness of her apology is that, while making it, she continued her complaints about the primary race. After mentioning her first “truth” that California has a great election system, she continued, saying – “The second truth that is really important that got lost in all of that is that big money does influence our elections. Outcomes are manipulated and distorted when you have people coming in, spending millions and millions of dollars at the last minute, and that money is not disclosed until after the election." To be fair, that’s a valid and important point, and one that has been a core to her time in public office. And an issue that’s worth continually addressing. But -- coming on the heels of her apologizing for saying that the election was rigged, and on the heels of her complaints during the election…it seems incredibly poor judgement, most especially when you’re apologizing for saying the election was rigged and then add that “Outcomes are manipulated and distorted.” Yes, she was speaking in general, but it's impossible not to draw a connection. Which makes for a deeply weak apology, coming across more like you’re not sorry for what you said, just that you’re sorry you’re taking heat for how you said it. Oh, and one other thing about her apology. Nowhere in her apology does she apologize. Or say she's sorry. Or regrets she "chose" the wrong word. Only that she states something that we all already know -- as she herself "obviously" acknowledges. I like Katie Porter a lot. I would have been happy if she (or any of the three Democratic candidates) became California’s U.S. Senator. And I think Katie Porter should continue speaking out loudly about the misuse of corporate money in elections. But there are great times for doing that, and mind-numbingly awful times for it. And doing so, not just when you’re trying put your political career back on track by supposedly apologizing for saying your election was rigged, but repeating that “outcomes are manipulated” in the middle of your apology (!) is a really dismal time for it, and she undermined her apology and herself. And undermined her apology even more by not apologizing. I thought at length what rating I'd give her apology. I started with a "C" because she went on to praise the California election system. But the more I looked at what she said -- and didn't say, including endorsing Adam Schiff -- it dropped to a "C-". And in the end, that lack of actually apologizing, just noting the "obviously" wrong word she "chose," was too big a hurdle to get over, so I give it a D+. Katie Porter still has a great future in politics. This, again, was not her finest hour.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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