I wonder if Al Sharpton would apologise

(Added Nifong's apology statement)

Look, I know we all do not like Imus. To be frank, I think less than
25% even watch his show or even listen to it. I know Imus was on MSNBC but I never listened to any of his shows.

After Sharpton, Jackson, and everyone has made Imus apologise profusely for his stupid comments, will we expect an apology on the Duke Lacrosse case?

Let's go back to O'Reilly questioning Al Sharpton on the case back on April 18, 2006.

O'Reilly: "Is this a racial issue?"

Sharpton: " think that there are certainly a lot of racial factors. Whether it is directly in the case, we'll see, because some reports said that there was racial language used. But I think that when you look at the racial atmosphere, when you look at the fact that there again were the allegations of racial statements, when you look at a lot of people feeling that they have been treated differently, where this girl has basically had a character charged in the media, there is a lot of racism that's in the air. Having said that, I commend a lot of the blacks and whites who stood vigil and to come together in that community to stand up for this girl. So I think in the midst of this, there is some good."

Then...

SHARPTON: But I think that all of the facts that you have laid out the DA had — and I know this DA is probably not one that is crazy. He would not have proceeded if he did not feel that he could convict. So it tells me that all of what you said is either not true or he has convincing evidence that would certainly knock that out and no one is not letting him proceed. You know, a lot of those community leaders down there, pro and con, wanted a lot of people to come in. I know for a fact asked Jesse Jackson to come, we said we don't want to be (INAUDIBLE)...

And...

SHARPTON: First of all, they better be prepared to see if she is the only witness. You don't know what other people are going to testify. You don't know what other evidence they have. So let's not get ready to discredit the girl until we see the whole passage. That's what happened with Louima. We had more than Louima, so let's not assume just discrediting the girl will work this time.

Ok, we have concluded that the victim was not credible and the amount of evidence or lack thereof showed that the charges of rape and kidnapping are not warranted against the defendants.

The former prosecutor Nifong was in an election season, so you have to expect that there was a political angle to all of this. He knew that if he did not proceed with the case, he would have been criticised by civil rights advocates, women groups, and the NAACP.

So after all of this, will we expect an apology from Sharpton and Jesse Jackson? How about the Group of 88, members of Duke faculty that sided against the players? Probably not.

These three men deserved some sort of apology.

Update 4/12/07

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong released a statement:

"To the extent that I made judgments that ultimately proved to be incorrect, I apologize to the three students that were wrongly accused."