May 24, 2012 05:05 AM UTC

Coffman Sounds Full Retreat From "Birther" Fiasco

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• by: Colorado Pols

THURSDAY UPDATE: 9NEWS’ Kyle Clark and state Rep. Joe Miklosi on MSNBC last night:

In a guest column published in the Denver paper’s opinion section earlier this evening, Rep. Mike Coffman revises his prior statements and abjectly apologizes for his “inappropriate and boneheaded comment” speaking before the Elbert County Republicans earlier this month–where he asserted that President Barack Obama “is just not an American.”

Coffman’s original apology for these remarks tried to defend them by citing Obama’s supposed lack of belief in “American exceptionalism,” but this evening’s revised and extended version makes no such attempt. Coffman says he was wrong to “question Obama’s devotion to our country,” and that he has always “rejected the notion that he is anything other than American.”

It’s clear that after days of mounting press coverage, and especially Coffman’s faceplant non-interview with 9NEWS’s Kyle Clark yesterday, someone has finally gotten through to him that this is a major disaster for his campaign, in a district no longer tolerant of Tom Tancredo-style immoderate rhetoric. An unqualified, point-by-point apology was really the only option left.

Will this put an end to Coffman’s week-long nightmare of veteran’s group petitions and disgraceful national press that taints not just his campaign, but the entire GOP brand? We’re not confident of that. The biggest problem with Coffman’s updated apology is that he still claims to have “misspoke,” when it’s obvious from the tenor and detail in his comments that he was not “misspeaking.” He knew exactly what he was telling (and implying to) the Elbert County Republicans, and if he hadn’t been recorded, he wouldn’t be apologizing for anything.

But some might find being very, very sorry for having gotten caught to be better than nothing.