In today’s Morning Jolt . . .

Wait, On Second Thought, I Guess Y’all Do Have Hearts After All
Rick Perry says he regrets calling critics of his in-state tuition plan “heartless.” Yes, I’ll bet he does.
Presidential candidate Rick Perry on Wednesday apologized for saying that anyone who opposed giving tuition breaks to the children of illegal immigrants “did not have a heart.”
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, the Texas governor said he had made a poor choice of words during the Sept. 22 presidential debate, but he stood by his view that the decision in his state to extend tuition breaks was the right one.
“I was probably a bit over-passionate by using that word and it was inappropriate,” Perry admitted. “In Texas in 2001 we had 181 members of the legislature — only four voted against this piece of legislation — because it wasn’t about immigration it was about education.”
Michelle Malkin remains unimpressed: “His comments are being construed as an ‘apology.’ Only in politics can you apologize without really being ‘sorry’ — or actually saying the word.”
Stop Andrea Mitchell is convinced the damage is done: “Sorry Rick Perry, you’re too late on your ‘apology.’ Claiming one doesn’t have a heart if they don’t support subsidizing illegal immigrant’s college tuition costs is a typical progressive liberal guilt trip. Perry lost my primary vote (though I’d vote for him if he turned out to be the nominee against Obama) and his poll numbers have tanked ever since . . . And why did it take him a week to come out and walk it back when everyone knew the moment he said it, it was toxic? Well, it wasn’t even really an apology. Perry said he was just being a bit ‘over-passionate’ about the issue, and using the heartless phrase was ‘inappropriate.’”
I like this assessment from Ace over at Ace of Spades: “It wasn’t just the Lindsey-Graham-style appeal to liberal emo-politics. That was bad, absolutely. In fact, that is in fact probably the worst part of it. But there are several other bad parts. First, by noting he was ‘over-passionate’ about it, he indicates that his emotion, and his conviction based on that emotion, is on the wrong side of the Republican Party mainstream here. As we saw with Bush and amnesty, it is a problem when a politician emotionally, in his bones, feels he is doing the right thing. At least, it’s a problem when that ‘feeling’ is repudiated by the majority of the party. There is no reasoning someone out of a position he wasn’t reasoned into in the first place, the saying goes, and it’s a keeper.”
But at Hot Air, Allahpundit reminds us that these sorts of comments have ended up being non-issues in GOP presidential primary fights before: “Remember back during the 2006 immigration debate when McCain started throwing around analogies involving people riding in the ‘back of the bus’? He was ‘passionate’ too, in the most demagogic way. He waltzed to the nomination.”

I believe this is the first time Rick Perry and “emo” have appeared in the same sentence.