The last Mel Gibson posting (until the next one)

Anne Thompson is right -- things might have gone better for Gibson if this had been his first official statement. But now... well, who can say? A few folks (including MSNBC's perspicacious Keith Olbermann) have made comparisons to the Fatty Arbuckle scandal of the 1920s -- a scandal from which the silent movie comic never fully recovered. And, mind you, that was after the jury in his third trial -- the first two ended with hung juries -- not only found him not guilty, they issued an apology stating the poor guy should never have been brought to trial on such flimsy evidence in the first place. But there's the rub: While Arbuckle truly was innocent, Gibson evidently really said what he's been accused of saying. (And, by the way, really drank as much as he's been accused of drinking). He has a long, hard climb ahead of him if he wants to rehabilitate his reputation. Assuming, of course, that he doesn't decide to take a different route.