New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks before receiving a Covid-19 vaccine at a church in Harlem on March 17.
Photographer: Seth Wenig/Getty Images
Susan Wise Bauer’s editor reached out to her last year about updating her 2008 book The Art of the Public Grovel, about how politicians apologize when accused of sexual misdeeds. Given the #MeToo movement and claims against Donald Trump, her editor said, a new edition might sell well.
This time, it was Bauer’s turn to say sorry. “I just don’t know what I would write,” Bauer, a historian, recalls saying. “No one really apologizes anymore.”
The modern American political apology, which dates back to President Grover Cleveland seeking forgiveness in 1884 for fathering a child out of wedlock, is in a precarious state as a result of polarization, faster-than-ever news cycles, and a new shamelessness among the political class.
Earlier this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo—facing allegations from several women of sexual harassment—gave only a semi-apology for making some female aides “uncomfortable.” He denied he did anything wrong and argued the public should “wait for the facts.” He’s continued to maintain his innocence, ignoring growing calls from fellow Democrats to resign.
Cuomo is just the latest in a recent string of male political figures, from state lawmakers to members of Congress to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who have hotly denied allegations of sexual harassment, attacked their accusers, or claimed to be the victims of smear campaigns. Even when forced to retire or resign, these men have often declined to make a public apology or any kind of comments on their decision to end their political careers.
Brett Kavanaugh testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27, 2018; Senator Ted Cruz checking in for a flight at Cancun International Airport on Feb. 18.
It’s part of a broader shamelessness in political life. In February, Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia privately apologized to colleagues in her party for her social media posts claiming that school shootings were faked and supporting the QAnon conspiracy theory. In public, she remained defiant. The same month, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said a family trip to Cancun, Mexico, during a massive power outage in his home state was “obviously a mistake,” but blamed the trip on his young daughters and went on to joke about it at a conservative conference.
In the past, voters demanded that politicians who had stumbled own up to it. They often did so in tearful televised speeches, flanked by their wives and pastors. When then-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer apologized for hiring escorts in 2008, his wife Silda stood beside him stoically, a moment that inspired the television series The Good Wife.
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer with his wife, Silda, after delivering a public apology on March 10, 2008.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images
At times, apologizing has saved careers. In one infamous example from the 1970s, Democratic Congressman Wilbur Mills salvaged a reelection attempt with a public apology to voters and his wife after he was caught drunk driving with a former stripper named Fanne Foxe. (That show of contrition went only so far: Mills decided not to run again after getting up on stage with Foxe at a burlesque show.)
The classic American political apology, in a case of sexual misconduct, draws from Christian confessions of sin. The politicians appear before reporters, often alongside their spouse and a spiritual advisor. They acknowledge that they’ve done wrong, maybe quote some Scripture, and ask for forgiveness. In Bauer’s interpretation, by placing the leader on the same level as their audience—since Christian theology holds that everyone is born a sinner—the ritual is meant to reassure voters who might worry that the politician will take similar advantage of them.
Former President Bill Clinton and former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford both followed the formula when begging for forgiveness in public comments after being caught cheating on their wives. “Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate,” Clinton said in his 1998 speech. “In fact, it was wrong.” Sanford, in a 2009 address acknowledging that he was not actually hiking on the Appalachian Trail but was instead visiting his mistress, apologized at length to his wife and four sons, his staff, his friends, his in-laws, voters, and “people of faith across South Carolina.”
Clinton apologizing for his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Photographer: Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images
Then came Donald Trump. At a 2015 Christian conservative forum, he was thrown a softball question about whether he had ever asked God for forgiveness, a standard part of Christian theology. “I am not sure I have,” he said, adding that he participates in Holy Communion. “When I drink my little wine—which is about the only wine I drink—and I have my little cracker, I guess that is a form of asking for forgiveness.”
That disinclination to seek forgiveness showed closer to the 2016 election. When a tape surfaced of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women on Access Hollywood, he dismissed it as “locker-room talk” and pivoted to attacking Hillary Clinton over her husband’s transgressions. The tape was damaging, as was Trump’s response to it, but the scandal was soon eclipsed by Clinton’s own troubles and Trump won.
Many lawmakers took a lesson from Trump’s survival, says historian Julian Zelizer, a professor at Princeton University. “The media cycle is now so fast, there’s a realistic assumption that if you just wait it out, eventually the media will move on to something else,” he says. “What feels like a total frenzy in the moment ends, and all of a sudden it’s yesterday’s news.”
Zelizer says many Democrats have also come to regret moving so quickly in 2017 to force out Minnesota Senator Al Franken, who resigned within weeks of accusations of having groped and kissed a fellow performer on a USO tour years earlier, after other women said he had also behaved inappropriately during photo ops.
Franken didn’t make a traditional public apology, either. When the first allegation came out, he released a short statement giving his “sincerest apologies” while adding that he did not remember the events the same way—and that, in any case, he was a comedian who was just trying to be funny. The statement was so poorly received that Franken was forced to issue a longer one within hours in which he acknowledged that he, like other men, had come to realize that his past conduct was inappropriate, while still maintaining he did not recall the event the same way.
Although nearly all of the public apologies over sex scandals have come from men, there are exceptions. In 2019, former Democratic Representative Katie Hill of California resigned from Congress after nude photos surfaced on a conservative blog and allegations that she had an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. Speaking to a nearly empty chamber on the House floor, Hill apologized repeatedly to family, friends, supporters, volunteers, and “every little girl who looked up to me,” but she did not mention the relationship, focusing instead on the leaked images and attacking “gutter politics” and “a double standard” for women in politics.
Frank Newport, former editor-in-chief of Gallup polling, says the public apology may be a victim of the rise in partisan polarization since the early 2000s. Polls show that many voters now back elected officials from the same party no matter what, Newport says, giving them a base of support that politicians in years past did not have, along with an easy out for any accusations. “The highly polarized environment makes it easier for politicians and public officials to transfer blame,” he says. “Everything is us against them, and that makes it quite easy to attribute causality for almost anything negative to the other side.”
America may be becoming more like the rest of the world. The classic public apology was always uniquely American, Bauer says, and leaders of other countries have rarely had to go through the same ritual. French President Francois Mitterrand unapologetically maintained a second family while in office. In February last year, a candidate for mayor of Paris was forced to stand down over videos and texts he sent to a woman who was not his wife, but he did not apologize and instead dropped out with a fiery attack on his adversaries. One French politician lamented that even the fact he dropped out reflected an “Americanization” of the country’s politics.
Republicans have been more apt than Democrats to refuse to say sorry, and Bauer says Democrats are still more likely than Republicans to issue a traditional apology—as President Joe Biden did after several women said his public touches made them uncomfortable. But that may not last. “I think Cuomo is going to be something of a litmus test,” she says. “If he manages to stay in power without doing a full-on grovel, I think that will be the death of the public apology.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
