Why apologize when you felt that way all along?

I'm not even about to discuss how wrong I think it was for this Elizabeth Lauten, communications director for right wing congressman Stephen Fincher, to say that the president's daughters Sasha and Malia showed disrespect and lacked "class" after their appearance at a Thanksgiving ceremony.  Complaining about presidential children is out of bounds and always has been, for those who know their way around Washington.  And even though we seem to have a new breed of people being elected to Congress, we can still expect better, even from people like Lauten.

Even my friends on the right agreed over the weekend that Lauten was wrong to pick on two young women like that.  But what chafes me even  more is that, once she became aware of how awful her comments were, she reverted to the time-honored, good old, all-American apology, saying, "After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents, and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were. I'd like to apologize to all of those who I have hurt and offended with my words, and I pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have) from this experience."

The horrid appearance and completely unacceptable behavior of the president's children at the turkey-pardoning ceremony.

Lauten

Why does she throw up the fact that she (claims to have) prayed about all this?  Why does she drag her poor, embarrassed parents into this?  And why didn't she re-read her words before putting them on line?

A truly prayerful person knows better, lives better, acts better. She should have spared us the insincere, mawkish apology.  She slagged Sasha and Malia for no reason anyway, because they are not at the turkey-pardoning ceremony to be judged by Elizabeth Lauter, a grown woman without an ounce of class or decency.

Live your life, live and let live, and spare us the phony atonement.