Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) stuck his foot deep in his mouth on Saturday speaking at a Republican Party dinner. Talking about his support for conservative judges and the Supreme Court, he pointed out that liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will probably die in the next nine months. While that may (or may not) be true, it is generally considered poor taste to gloat over someone else’s imminent death.
So today, Bunning issued something resembling an apology:
I apologize if my comments offended Justice Ginsberg. That certainly was not my intent. It is great to see her back at the Supreme Court today and I hope she recovers quickly.
Bunning starts off with what’s called a conditional apology, the kind you make when you don’t think you’ve done anything wrong (he’s apologizing only if she was offended, not because he said something rude). Second, saying it is great to see her back at the Supreme Court is blatantly hypocritical. He has made it abundantly clear that he doesn’t like liberal justices like her. And third, he misspelled Ginsburg’s name in the apology.
It is pretty bad when even your own party hopes that you don’t get reelected.
