GrodsCorp

Sorry he said “Sorry”

Thursday 8 November 2007, 6:02 pm

Bridgit Gread

Categories: Australia Decides '07

Tags: indigenous, InterestRates, JohnHoward, sorry

John Howard yesterday said “sorry” for the tenth interest-rate rise in a row:

In a rare statement of contrition, Mr Howard said: “I would say to the borrowers of Australia who are affected by this change that I am sorry about that and I regret the additional burden that will be put upon them as a result.”

John Howard today said that being “sorry” doesn’t necessarily mean an apology:

Howard today denied apologising for the latest interest rate rise, saying that uttering the word sorry did not amount to the same thing. Mr Howard said yesterday he was sorry about the pain the rise would cause borrowers. But today he denied that amounted to an apology.

John Howard four weeks ago, on why he won’t say “sorry” to indigenous Australians for past misjustices:

“I think in the past we have become obsessed with things like apologies and there are millions of Australians who will never entertain an apology because they don’t believe that there is anything to apologise for.”

I can’t wait for Howard to start up his own blog in retirement, where he can work more on these semantic gymnastics.

7 Comments

The Editor (Thursday 8 November 2007, 6:12 pm) #

One minute “sorry” is an admission of personal responsibility (indigenous reconciliation) and the next minute its an expression of empathy with no admission of personal responsibility (interest rates — it’s the INDEPENDENT Reserve Bank’s fault. And oil’s fault. And bananas’ fault. And global factors’ fault. And the ABC’s fault. And teachers’ fault. And asylum seekers’ fault. And Muttiah Muralitharan’s fault…)
Bridgit Gread (Thursday 8 November 2007, 6:18 pm) #

Maybe this was a non-core ’sorry’.
Krypto (Thursday 8 November 2007, 10:15 pm) #

isn’t it about time someone dug a hole and buried John Howard’s credibility, it’s starting to smell.
Mikey (Friday 9 November 2007, 6:28 pm) #

What’s the new phrase of wiggle out? Aggregate Impressions?
Krypto (Friday 9 November 2007, 7:49 pm) #

possibly an aspirational dictatorship.
Dave from Albury (Friday 9 November 2007, 8:39 pm) #

He’s also not sorry about how he treats ALP voters
Diego Luego (Friday 9 November 2007, 10:20 pm) #

In my blog “THE SEMANTIC GYMNASTIC GENIUS - presenting John Howard” I wrote about the different meanings of “sorry” used by Howard.
see http://evidencebasedonly.blogspot.com/
(Just to get the record straight this was not a plagiarism by me but a parallel thought.)