rob ford apologizes... sort of.

Oh, please. This week, Toronto Councilor Rob Ford, who we all know and love for his "Oriental people are slowly taking over" remark at a debate last month, apparently "quietly" apologized, sort of, for his controversial comments: Rob Ford Issues Quiet Apology For Asian Remark. Despite widespread public protest from the Asian community, Ford has consistently refused to apologize for his statements. But when Councilor Adam Vaughan presented him with a petition on Monday signed by 260 people asking for a public apology, he finally gave in... just barely:

At first Ford tried to get around it by reading his own petition, which he claims was from Asian community supporters who weren't offended by what he maintains was a compliment. He then began by defending his use of the word "Oriental."

"Mr. Lee wants to know [why] Oriental studies is okay, but not Oriental people," he stated. "Someone please explain. Welcome to the faculty of Oriental studies at Oxford University, the school of Oriental and African studies at the University of London, and one of my Asian constituents brought this to my attention over the weekend, at No Frills, they're advertising Oriental flavour, 100 per cent pure corn starch."

Then came the sorry - again, sort of. "Asian people do work very hard, and are very, very aggressive," he started a second time. "If I have offended anyone in the Asian community, I will proudly retract my statements."

That still wasn't good enough for council, especially for Vaughan. "Our responsibility is to treat citizens and taxpayers as individuals, respect their individual rights, and when we transgress their rights, we are to stand up and apologize like adults," he lectured.

Finally, councilors voted 33-8 to force his apology. Ford stammered for a moment, tried to carry on, was reprimanded again and then very quietly said, "sorry."

It was small comfort to those in the gallery who had originally been hurt by his comments. They not only seemed sure he wasn't truly apologetic, but he said his 'sorry' so quietly, very few actually heard it come out of his mouth.

That's absolutely pathetic. All he had to do was apologize and be done with it. Just suck it up, man. But no, the guy has to dig his grave deeper and deeper, attempting to school everybody on the use of the word "Oriental." I particularly liked the part about "Oriental flavour." It actually took a council vote to squeeze out a barely audible "sorry" from Ford. It's just sad and ridiculous, because you know he really doesn't give a damn. Sorry, man. Nobody bought that.