UPDATE: On Friday’s Rachel Maddow Show, she explained that Cal Thomas had personally called her to apologize and also told her that she was welcome to announce his apology on her show, should she see fit.

While I still think his remarks were not only classless but gutless, I can appreciate the fact that he not only owned up to it but took the time to personally call and make the apology.  So, to Mr. Thomas, I say “good on you.”  Far too often a statement like that is made and the person who made the statement just doubles down.  I commend Mr. Thomas for realizing he had crossed the line and doing the honorable thing.

On another note, I have to give props to Greta Van Susteren for her nearly instantaneous response to this whole thing.  While I am no real fan of her’s and far less a fan of Fox News, early last night, she called out Thomas and insisted that he call Maddow and issue a personal apology, which he did.

It’s little moments like this that give me a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, we might start acting like civil human beings and decide to live with one another peacefully rather than find reasons to hate.

So kudos first to Greta for being the voice of reason.  And kudos to Cal Thomas for not doing what has become such commonplace these days, doubling down on a disgusting comment.  While I wish he had had better judgement than to ever say such a thing, I believe he did the right thing, the classy thing to call and personally apologize.

Not that this should be any kind of breaking news:

Conservative columnist, Cal Thomas, during a panel at CPAC decided that the good and decent thing to do was to suggest that Rachel Maddow’s parents could have been better served if they had used birth control and then doubled down….  Suggesting that any host on MSNBC should have been avoided and prevented from being born via birth control.

Hey, I won’t lie, I have made come pretty detestable, off the cuff comments about Republicans from time to time.  All of which was just hyperbole.  And I have little doubt that Cal’s comment was at least a bit of hyperbole itself.  But I am, in the scheme of things a nobody.  And the people I would share sure a nonsensical remark with would take it just for what it was, sarcasm.

Now I am not suggesting that Cal’s statement wasn’t just that, sarcasm.  But he’s doing it on a national stage at CPAC and on camera.  He knew it was going to go national.  Hell, maybe that was his intention.  After all, while I know who Cal Thomas is, I am having trouble remembering the last thing of any significance he has either said or written.

But here’s the conundrum that this disgusting act provides me:

Democrats and Progressives are constantly being lectured to by “fine” “upstanding” “Christians” who hold themselves up as a “better” class of human being.  Because they are the ones with “morals”.  They are the ones with “ethics”.

For as long as I have understood politics, the Republicans have always held themselves up as the “morally superior” group.  Us “lower” people are the ones that are ethically and morally challenged because we don’t have a “God” in our lives that people like Cal seem to have.

So when I make a joke about religion or politics among friends in a purely sarcastic manner, I may be a horrible person for doing that.  But when a man with a national platform makes a remark like the one contained in that clip, it’s different.  It goes from being sarcasm to being hateful and mean-spirited.  And intentional at that.

But this is nothing new.  When someone from my party would come even remotely close to suggesting such a thing, they would be eviscerated by the Right Wing media.  Fox and Friends, Hannity and the like would be dinning out on it for weeks and holding it out as just another example of Left Wing arrogance.  But Cal Thomas make a remark that is so completely vile on it;s very face that the CPAC audience does what?

A.  Boo him and at least try to demonstrate to him that perhaps he ought to limit his attacks to policy debate and make a veiled attempt at maintaining a civil conversation.

OR

B.  They openly cheer him.

It’s no different from the Ron Paul, “let em die” or the loud boos for an openly gay vet who got booed for serving his country with honor just to be shat upon when they realized he was looking for a little equality in this supposedly “free” country of ours.

You don’t have to like gays.  You don’t even have to like the idea of tax dollars, your tax dollars, funding indigent people who need medical services.  But shouting “let em die!” and booing a man who has done more to protect this country than most of the people in that audience.

That’s the problem with Thomas’ statements.

Are there hyper-partisan voices on both sides?  Perhaps.  But rarely do I hear nationally syndicated progressives suggesting that George H. W. Bush and Barbara should have used birth control.  Rarely do I hear a progressive voice with any kind of national profile suggest that life would be better if the parents of the crew at Fox News had used the pill or a condom or two.

But it’s not really the statement Thomas made.  It’s the visceral reaction he got from the crowd.  As partisan as the CPAC crowd may be, are they really that crazed that they would cheer such a vile suggestion?

Hey, I may not like some people.  But if someone I knew were to suggest that the parents of someone I didn’t agree with politically should have done the world a favor and used a condom or two, I might chuckle a bit, but I would never give the idea a rousing round of applause.  And in my personal case, in the end I would take that kind of demented theorem to task.

But that is basically where we are today.  Cal Thomas is but one of the menagerie of players in a completely disgusting game.  He should be ashamed.