That’s very big of him to apologizing for disconnecting a bond with his fans, whatever the hell that means.  I take it he’s still proud of the article itself and sees nothing wrong with what he wrote?

Craig, thank you for bringing this column to our attention.  I never would have read it if you hadn’t linked to it.  I’m sure the volume of responses Whicker and the OC Register received was notably larger because you blogged about it.

I’m not sure how sincere the apology is, but at least somebody realized the enormity of the error.

It’s almost worse that he trotted this out. He basically says he’s sorry that we didn’t get it or that we misinterpreted what he wrote.

Agreed with those above; it’s like the athlete who’s apology sounds like “I’m sorry I got caught”.

Craig, great job bringing this to our attention and kudos to everyone who realized the seriousness of Whicker’s error in judgement and raised their voices to make others aware.

Kickass job.  Score one for the bloggers.

From the OC Register comments, I’d like to quote a comment that speaks for me:

 
mattie0 wrote:
***This column appears to have disconnected that bond with at least part of our readers. For that I apologize.***

Oh. But not for writing it. I see. Given your incredulous responses to people’s emails and your comments on another website today, this apology comes across as so insincere it’s almost unbelievable…*almost* because anyone lacking in humanity enough to write that column in the first place probably can’t be expected to realize why it was wrong, or to truly apologize.

And I agree with others—who could have POSSIBLY read this as an editor and okayed it for publication? Oh, she hasn’t heard about LA’s football teams, ha ha…BECAUSE SHE WAS KIDNAPPED, RAPED, ABUSED, AND TERRORIZED SINCE SHE WAS AN 11-YEAR-OLD CHILD! Part of me still can’t believe any of this was actually a real, published column in a newspaper.
9/9/2009 7:45:26 PM

Amen, mattie0, Amen. It’s an apology of sorts, but hardly the abject groveling that is truly owed to Ms. Dugard.

It’s people (and I use this term loosely) like Whicker AND HIS EDITORS who wonder why newspapers are dying. Oh the irony.

A white male in Orange County that has difficulty relating to a victim of rape, neglect, and child abuse? How novel.

And he doesn’t know how to use commas.  (spits on ground)

What I find disturbing is that he seems to reference, as noted by many folks here, that a portion (potentially large portion) of his readership understood and appreciated his column. 

That means there are folks out there who find his take witty or informative or worthy of more than being used to wrap up the chicken bones from dinner and that bothers me more than his pathetic attempt at an apology. 

Be afraid - be very afraid.

Exception that proves the rule, obviously.