Sorry (Sor"ry) (?), a.
[Compar. Sorrier (?); superl. Sorriest.]
[OE. sory, sary, AS. sa¯rig, fr. sa¯r, n., sore. See Sore, n. & a. The original sense was, painful; hence. miserable, sad.]

1. Grieved for the loss of some good; pained for some evil; feeling regret; -- now generally used to express light grief or affliction, but formerly often used to express deeper feeling. "I am sorry for my sins."

from Crikey …..  

John Howard can't help himself, can he? 

David MacCormack writes: 

Whether it's the "stolen generations", kids overboard or the 2004 interest rate promise, the Kirribilli Casuist has parsed sentences, tortured meaning and twisted words for so long, it is now an automatic reaction for him.

Maybe it's a semantic form of nervous twitch.  

Yesterday we were pondering the arcane question of whether the Government could somehow spin a rate rise into a positive. What complex explanation could save the Coalition's electoral fortunes? This was political debate at its most complicated and nuanced.  

But all that became moot when the Prime Minister stood next to his Treasurer, in that awkward Little-and-Large pose the "agreed agreement" condemns them to, and declared that he hadn't apologised for interest rate rises at all.  

As they say in the classics, WTF? 

Howard was smart to say sorry on Wednesday. It may not have gained him a single extra vote, but it suggested he was aware of having dudded Australians in 2004, no matter how he tries to wriggle out of that. But in offering one of his trademark dips into the dictionary, he undid all that in an instant.  

Not merely did it extend the dominance of interest rates in the campaign another day, it would have annoyed punters no end. The footage on the commercial news bulletins was deadly, especially with "Howard takes back his apology" commentary.  

Howard of course did no such thing, but "apology" versus "sorry" is a distinction without a difference for those Howard battlers out there in the mortgage belts. Most of them wouldn't own dictionaries, and the ones that do will now probably have to pawn them to finance their house repayments.

This was a far more damaging "gaffe" than anything Peter Garrett said to homoph-bic midgets in airport lounges. But there seems to be a code amongst mainstream media journalists that the PM never commits "gaffes", no matter how clumsy or offensive his statements.  

Julia Gillard, barely able to restrain a grin, almost muffed the Labor response. "Sorry seems to be the hardest word for the Prime Minister," she declared. A nation groaned as one. 

Another Howard trademark was also on display yesterday when he addressed the Institute of Public Affairs. The IPA, for all its protestations of "independence", is a reliable supporter of the Liberal Party, but lately even it has become restive in the face of the Government's profligate spending. Perhaps to assuage right-wing pride, the Prime Minister declared that Australia was becoming an "Opportunity Society".  

Howard may have abandoned most of the personal traits that marked his first period as Liberal leader, but the nerd who devised "incentivation" will always be with us, trying to devise a lasting political catchcry. It's only a few weeks since "aspirational nationalism" came and went with nothing more than mockery from the blogetariat. "Opportunity Society" will fare no better.

Howard does catchphrases about as well as he does apologies. 

and …..  

All Apologies: The problem with saying sorry 

Richard Farmer writes: 

John Howard has trouble saying sorry. He could not manage if for the Aboriginal stolen generation nor for the wrongly locked up Cornelia Rau. The lies told about the children overboard did not produce the magic word nor did the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But this week the Prime Minister did manage to use the word after the Reserve Bank put interest rates up:  

I would say to the borrowers of Australia who are affected by this change that I am sorry about that and I regret the additional burden that will be put upon them as a result.  

But don't let anyone think that saying sorry is in any way an apology. As the front page of the Hobart Mercury so accurately put it yesterday: "Sorry … but it's not my fault."  

Mr Howard went out of his way today to stress that just because he said he was sorry he was not apologising to anyone. In his dictionary the word does not imply such a thing at all:  

I said I was sorry they occurred. I don't think I used the word apology. I think there is a difference between the two things. I think we've been through that debate before in the context of something else.  

I'm sorry when interest rates go up because it does impose a burden on people, I understand that.  

But it's also fair of me to point out that ... a family in which, say, dad (works) full-time and mum (works) part-time got what, $20 a week out of the last budget in tax cuts? I think you've got to put that up against the impact of the interest rate rise.  

So what does the word sorry mean when Mr Howard uses it? Perhaps the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language of Houghton Mifflin Company gives a clue.  

If Mr Howard is not "feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds" then perhaps he had in mind that "the economic outlook is depressing."

Whatever he thinks, the voters of Australia are sure to find his comments "a sorry excuse."  

Already, I notice, the comments on newspaper web pages are agreeing with the caption writer on news.com who said "Sorry performance ... John Howard has denied apologising for rate rise."  

In the funny way of politics it is quite possible that more votes will be lost by the sorry that is not an apology than the event for which Mr Howard is sorry, but not apologetic, for.

Trade deficit and inflation soar for Kevin Oh8

Jessica Irvine Economics Correspondent
December 4, 2007

THE Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has pledged to make dealing with inflation his "number one priority" after day one of the new Labor Government threw up a perfect storm of economic challenges.

A sharp jump in inflation, a record trade deficit and an unexpected fall in company profits have put the spotlight firmly on the economic management skills of the new Government.

Gus: of course, bandits from the right loony bins would blame PM Rudd for this appalling result, but it has been the exclusive making of Costellantoinette — the queen of banana bending for King Johnnee... I believe the masses saw it coming and didn't believe the "let them eat cake" hubris...

I guess that the no fee balance transfers strategy just took a nice dive because politicians seem to forget that the people sometimes suffers when they aren't heard as they should be and that is not something that a country wants if they wish to grow stronger and stronger.

The senior Liberal Andrew Robb told John Howard late last year the Coalition government was headed for a "train wreck" as he mounted a last-ditch bid to have him step aside for Peter Costello. 

But Mr Howard told his minister that while he was pessimistic about the election, he "had more show of winning than Peter" and if he stepped down voluntarily, history would regard him as "a coward". He said, however, that he would have quit had a delegation of senior ministers demanded he leave. 

"I'd have responded to that because they'd have been owning the request," Mr Howard said. 

I'm No Coward: Why John Howard Refused To Step Down

bananarama now used by the conservatives in pommyland. See toon on top: we've been doing it for yonks.