He's sorry, really. Maybe. Jerry Falwell's comments about who was to blame after the terrorist attacks raised a firestorm of criticism. Whether he has retracted them depends on whom he's talking to. [...] A few hours after the show, he reiterated his remarks, telling the New York Times that "The collective efforts of many secularists . . . left us vulnerable." The next day he issued a statement saying his comments were made during "a long theological discussion" and were "taken out of context." A few days later, he appeared on Geraldo Rivera's cable TV show and repudiated everything he'd said on The 700 Club: "This is not what I believe, and I therefore repudiate it and ask God's forgiveness and yours." [...] two weeks after Falwell apologized to God and Geraldo, the Jerry Falwell Ministries sent out a fundraising letter written by Falwell's son, the Rev. Jonathan Falwell. The letter charged that "Satan has launched a hail of fiery darts at dad" and that "liberals, and especially gay activists, have launched a vicious smear campaign to discredit him." [...] Fortunately, Falwell has agreed to spend an hour answering these questions. "I misspoke," he says. [...] "I apologize for my Sept. 13 comments because they were a complete misstatement of what I believe and what I've preached for nearly 50 years," he says.
The hell ...?
How is this a "complete misstatement" of anything he's preached? From the man who outed Tinky Winky, for heaven's sake, and who has called us "the homosexual steamroller that's going to crush America in its wake", how on earth is this at all inconsistent? The only thing he really minds is that the statement was so obnoxious that not only did Rush Limbaugh, no friend of gays, rip him over it, but it cost him a bit of access when George II was not amused.
Copyright © 2001, Iain Jackson, after-words.org
[Archives: 2001 and after]
Archives before February 5, 2001
Search entries:
12/19/2001: vive la france
12/19/2001: princess, redux
12/19/2001: yemen and rumsfeld
12/18/2001: you're NOT in the army now
12/18/2001: interesting donation
12/18/2001: shame on winn dixie, indeed
12/18/2001: saudi princess
12/17/2001: new resolve
12/17/2001: a victim of the attack ... yeah, right
12/17/2001: polluters ho!