More On Mel.

I guess it's easier to blame it on alcoholism than to deal with anti-Semitism and bigotry.

UPDATE (8/1 10:39 AM PDT): OK, it sounds like Mel's starting to deal with his bigotry. At least in a press release from his PR flack.

Mel Gibson said Tuesday he is not a bigot or an anti-Semite and he apologized to “everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words” he used when he was arrested for drunken driving.

“Hatred of any kind goes against my faith,” he said in a statement issued through his publicist Alan Nierob.

“I’m not just asking for forgiveness,” Gibson said. “I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one-on-one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.”

ANOTHER UPDATE (4:01 PM PDT): Ed Kilgore has a great post up at New Donkey, "Drinking Yourself Anti-Semetic." Read it. (And, now I hope to pay very little additional attention to old Mel.)

So: fine, let's all accept Gibson's apologies for what he said, and give him a chance to make amends. But it would be nice if ol' Mel would stop blaming John Barleycorn for his issues, and maybe admit his ongoing complicity in the most ancient and horrific of Christian heresies: anti-Semitism. It comes out of an entirely un-Christlike heart, not out of a bottle.