An apology can offer up acknowledgment of responsibility (even if it's for something done by accident). It can also recognize another's pain. At the very least, it can be — sincere or not — a social tool to establish, build, maintain a relationship.
Or, of course, it can just be a weakness, because, y'know, if it's not your intentional fault, why bother apologizing?
Rick Santorum: "To apologize for something that was not an intentional act is something that the president of the United States, in my opinion, should not have done. … It suggests that there is somehow blame, this is somehow that we did something wrong in the sense of doing a deliberate act wrong. I think it shows that we are — that I think it shows weakness."
Love to see dinners at the Santorum household. "Honey, did you pick up the dry cleaning like you said you would?" "No, I did not, but I refuse to apologize because it was an inadvertent act, an accident, not intentional, therefore there was no real harm done and no cause for feelings to be hurt, and for a husband to apologize in such a case would be to show weakness."
Yeesh. #ddtb
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Rick Santorum: Obama's Apology For Quran Burning 'Shows Weakness'
Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum accused President Barack Obama of "weakness" on Sunday for apologizing to the Islamic world over the U.S. military's recent burning of Qurans in Afghani…