UPDATE:

The more I think about the PR boon Durbin provided our enemies the more I realize I could care less about a 3rd bogus apology. What I want is for the senate democrats to come out en masse and admit Durbin’s comments were inappropriate and probably did more to recruit more terrorists than any faux story of Koran flushes and AC levels at GITMO. Durbin doesn’t need to anything more than step down. And dems need to pick which side of this battle they are on.

BTW, The Anchoress joins the not-convinced crowd.

Mark In Mexico has linked to me religously ( and for that I sincerely thank him), and today he has the classic quote on Durbin.

Or possibly this one from Mark Twain:.
It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.

Cheers to that!

Michelle Malkin has her usual excellent roundup

END UPDATE:

It is about time Durbin apologized, but I am not convinced of his sincerity and it is not a real apology (he’s more sorry we all misunderstood him).

Some may believe that my remarks crossed the line,” the Illinois Democrat said. “To them I extend my heartfelt apologies.”

His voice quaking and tears welling in his eyes, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate also apologized to any soldiers who felt insulted by his remarks.

“They’re the best. I never, ever intended any disrespect for them,” he said.

Contrast with this recent statement

The comment created a buzz on the Internet and among conservative talk radio hosts, but Durbin initially refused to apologize.

“This administration should apologize to the American people for abandoning the Geneva Conventions and authorizing torture techniques that put our troops at risk and make Americans less secure,” he said the day after his initial comments.

Sounds more like he is sorry he got caught.

Interestingly enough I was collating a GITMO-Durbin category to pull all the posts I had on this sad affair when I saw the news. Even I was stunned how much I wrote on this topic out of pure disgust with Durbin. But I did predict a few things that still make me feel his apology was driven more by this recent poll:

But the poll suggests that the public has yet to be persuaded. Overall, 58% say the government should continue to operate the facility, while 36% want to close it.

I predicted that the dems were playing a very dangerous game with this issue (and note there is still silence from his fellow democrats in the Senate) and that they had set themselves up for failure no matter what:

With the liberal base investing so much emotion into this debate the democrat leaders are in an impossible situation. If the dems do not call Durbin to task on this then the image of the democrats as knee jerk anti-military, anti-american, too quick to protect murderous terrorists, partisans will crystallize in the 80% of the electorate which is non-liberal. There is a reason 80% of the population does not want to be called a liberal, and these traits are why.

On the other hand, if the democrats do sanction Durbin then their core base will see another in a long line of surrenders to the ‘right wing bullies’, and feel more betrayed than ever.

It will be interesting to see which way the democrats cut. Will they side with America, or the lunatic fringe?

We have our answer. They sided with the lunatic fringe until the public began to turn on them. Which totally calls into question the sincerity of a forced apology.

Ed Morrissey has thoughts on this event.
Powerline is not impressed
Alexander McClure at Polipundit notes the bi-partisan pressure.
K Lopez at The Corner is not satisfied either
Little Green Footballs is not buying it either.
More at Vodka Pundit (and others at Hugh Hewitt’s place)
Jawa Report let’s him off too easy. Hopefully Rusty will realize a forced apology to stop political damage is not a real one.

Video at The Political Teen

Can you believe he tried to quote Lincoln?

Rusty at Jawa Report and Mark at Decision ’08 want to give Durbin credit for trying. I think these two good souls are projecting how they would handle this. I am still not convinced Durbin deserves their optimism. How I wish I could join them.

I get the feeling Durbin is not out of hot water yet.