Martin O'Malley is no Donald Trump, and good for him.
Here's a quick study in contrasts from the weekend: Donald Trump, surging in the Republican presidential polls, mocks John McCain's service during the Vietnam War, then refuses to apologize for it, while Martin O'Malley, last in the latest poll on the Democratic side, apologizes for saying "all lives matter" to a group of "Black Lives Matter" protesters who heckled him.
Both men touched a third rail within their respective parties — one that's been in place forever, the other new within the past year — but only one owned up to his mistake. . .
As for O'Malley, he had a lesson in the volatile nature of words over the weekend.
On Saturday, hecklers dominated his time at Netroots Nation, a gathering of liberal activists in Arizona. The hecklers wanted both O'Malley and Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator also running for the Democratic nomination, to recognize African-Americans killed by police. . .
The demonstrators in Phoenix on Saturday were loud and angry. They shouted, "Black lives matter!" O'Malley answered: "Black lives matter. White lives matter. All lives matter." And the crowd booed him. It was the wrong thing to say. While it's a given that "all lives matter," the phrase "Black Lives Matter" says black lives have not mattered as much as white lives, and many see that as central to profound problems such as racial profiling and police brutality, unemployment and income inequality.
"I meant no disrespect," O'Malley told an interviewer after the raucous Netroots town hall. He noted his efforts as mayor to reduce the number of homicides in majority black Baltimore.
"I did not mean to be insensitive in any way or to communicate that I did not understand the tremendous passion, commitment and depth of feeling that all of us should be attaching to this issue."
Give O'Malley credit for being willing to face the fire and show some humility and apologize. He might be lagging in polls and in raising money for his campaign. But he's no Donald Trump.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-rodricks-0721-20150720-column.html