No, Really, He Was Sorry:
President Bush seems like the character Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants when he talks about his apology to the King of Jordan. Remember the episode when Squidward degrades Spongebob in public through an April Fool's Day prank? And then our bulbous headed Paul Lynde stand-in must apologize to Spongebob? But, see, he can't say it, not in person. He tries a bunch of ways of doing it, and then tells Spongebob, "I said I was sorry." However, he can't bring himself to say it, in the present tense, to Spongebob's face. (Yeah, we could have gone with Fonzie for this reference, but let's stay au courant.)

So it is with the "apology" for the abuse at Abu Ghraib. Bush said of his conversation with King Abdullah, "I told him I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners, and the humiliation suffered by their families. I told him I was equally sorry that people who have been seeing those pictures didn't understand the true nature and heart of America." But, see, he didn't actually apologize to the prisoners or the Iraqi people. It's sort of like after you get liquored up at your employee's house and puke all over his teenaged daughter after feeling up her tits and then stomp the shit of his dog, and you tell your employee, "Sorry if I spoiled your daughter's dress." Bush only said he was sorry that the prisoners felt humiliation - not that the actions were done. Bush only said he was sorry that people seeing the photos didn't love America enough. And, really, not to get all conspiratorial here, we never saw Bush apologize. He reported on the apology. He claimed he apologized. But, then again, he claimed Saddam had WMDs, so, really, what the fuck can we believe, huh?

More later, including this week's trip down the superhighway.