McCain: Senate Should Apologize For Slavery

(I’m filling in for ST the next few days. You can read more of my work at my blog, Liberty Pundit.)

Now you know why his campaign is sinking fast:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday the Senate should apologize for slavery and segregation, calling them “dark chapters in our history.”

McCain said he would support a planned resolution by fellow Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, who is also seeking the presidency, to apologize for racist laws, some of which ended more than a century ago.

“They were federal policies” Brownback told the Boston Globe on Monday. “They were wrong. The only way for us to move forward . . . is at the end of the day acknowledging those, taking ownership for it, and asking for forgiveness.”

McCain agreed with Brownback’s approach.

I would support it, because I think it’s appropriate” he said in response to questions from The Examiner on the campaign trail. “I certainly would support any recognition of the dark chapters in our history.”

Spokesmen for other presidential candidates, including Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, the only top-tier black candidate, declined to comment on the planned Brownback apology. Also silent were Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson.

The reason why no other candidates are stooping to this level of pandering (yet) is because there’s nothing to apologize for. Nobody currently in the Senate owned slaves, and civil rights legislation and a host of other things have more than made amends for the injustice of those times. To offer yet another apology is ridiculous. How many times can, or should, you say “I’m sorry” and have it taken seriously?

I’m sick and tired of people apologizing for something they had nothing to do with. Yes, slavery was wrong (about as wrong as anything can be), but there is nobody alive today who is/was a victim of it, and there’s nobody alive today who is/was guilty of doing it, and Republicans, of all people, have nothing to apologize for in that capacity. It was our party that freed the slaves and that fought the war when the Democrats wanted peace at any price (sound familiar?). Let’s get past it already, and move on.

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