By Jerry Burris
Advertiser Editorial Editor

Anyone can have a slip of the tongue that sounds other than what the speaker truly believes.

So one has to hope that misstatements in and around the halls of Congress don't capture the true sentiments of those who serve there. But you have to wonder.

The biggest flap was prompted by Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, who lost his post as majority leader after he praised Sen. Strom Thurmond's segregationist presidential campaign. Lott apologized, but many were left to wonder whether he doesn't remember those segregationist times with some fondness.

More outrageous were the statements made last week on the floor of the House by Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin of Wyoming.

According to the Washington Post, Cubin was debating proposed gun legislation. Here is what she said:

"My sons are 25 and 30. They are blond-haired and blue-eyed. One amendment today said we could not sell guns to anybody under drug treatment. So, does that mean if you go into a black community, you cannot sell a gun to any black person, or does that mean because my ..."

She stopped in mid-sentence because she was interrupted by Rep. Melvin Watt of North Carolina, who contended the statement was racist and should be stricken.

Cubin refused to allow her comments to be stricken and was supported by a largely party-line vote of the full House. She offered a nonapology apology to Watt, saying she wanted to "apologize to my colleague for his sensitivities."

That "I'm-truly-sorry-if-I-hurt-your-feelings" nonapology approach was used earlier by Republican Rep. Howard Coble in an incident of particular interest to Hawai'i.

Coble, discussing proposals to arrest or interrogate Arab Americans, told a radio audience he agreed with, or at least understood the need for, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

"We were at war," Coble said. "For many of these Japanese Americans, it wasn't safe for them to be on the street. Some probably were intent on doing harm to us."

His comments outraged many, including U.S. Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case and state Rep. Barbara Marumoto, who introduced a resolution urging more congressional sensitivity.

Coble's first effort at an apology didn't get very far: "I regret that many Japanese and Arab Americans found my choice of words offensive because that was certainly not my intent," he said. John Tateishi, the national executive director of the Japanese American Citizens League, pointed out that "his comment was to say he regretted offending us, but it's not an apology for what he said."

In a follow-up letter to Marumoto, Coble did go a bit farther: "We now know it was wrong. ... I have been accused of supporting ... the internment policy. At no time did I support or endorse internment," he wrote.

Marumoto said the Coble incident "is now closed," but it continues to "serve to remind us that we must remain vigilant so that other groups are not unfairly characterized or persecuted." Precisely.

Reach Jerry Burris through letters@honoluluadvertiser.com.