Despicable, but everyone pretends not to remember, and kisses his ass.

-Bubba

Ellison has largely made himself a pseudo-celebrity by his outrageous actions. As many older writers and fans remember (but do they DARE to speak?) Ellison intentionally recruited fans to harass and ridicule an aging and already crippled Palmer at SCIFI Conventions in the 60s and early 70s, intentionally distorted and took out of context what the man said, and did everything he could to ruin him. Palmer, of course, was the one-time editor of Amazing Stories who started the whole “Shaver Mystery” rolling. In addition to being a legendary force in early scifi and fantasy publishing, he was a kind-hearted gent who loved the fans and also committed the Harlan-ordained ’sin’ of having an interest in exploring the paranormal, UFOs, and other strange phenomena.

Yep, Palmer is laughing somewhere, and given Ellison’s history, it’s probably a lot more pleasant somewhere than Harlan will end up–despite all the ass-kissing from pros and fans alike.

-Bubba

The bit you quoted, which indeed is the closest thing to an apology in the statement, has a few curious properties: First, it is phrased entirely in the passive voice (of “mistakes were made” fame). It’s phrased in general principles, and only touches upon Ellison’s actual action. Compare this to the description of George W. Bush’s inappropriate action (which you elided), which is phrased in the active voice.

Second, it contains no actual statement of remorse. Ellison’s grope may be “inexcusable, indefensible, gauche, and properly offensive,” (again, gauche?!) but there’s no indication that he’s actually sorry. Rather, he goes on to take pride in “72 years of indefensible, gauche (yet for the most part classy), horrifying, jaw-dropping, sophomoric, sometimes imbecile behavior.”

Third, it’s bracketed by the sentences “YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!” and “I agree wholeheartedly.” This puts the “apology” in a context of an external demand, something that we fans are *making* him do rather than something that is originating from him.

It should also be noted that, after saying all that, Ellis went on to say this [emphasis mine]:

On a more serious note: if, in fact, Connie (or Courtney, or Cordelia) were/are/might in any way be offended by this latest demonstration of give’n'take jackanapery between Connie and Harlan (now in its longest-run on Broadway), you may all rest assured I will apologize vehemently, will crawl to Colorado through broken glass and steaming embers, and beg her (their) forgiveness. I need no one to prompt me.

By saying what’s essentially “if she was offended, then I’ll apologize,” I think it makes it very clear that what he said above, despite the part about him seeming to fess up, was, in fact, not an apology. Furthermore, I suggest you check out this post, where he makes it further clear that he in no way, shape, or form believes that he did something wrong.

IT IS UNCONSCIONABLE FOR A MAN TO GRAB A WOMAN’S BREAST WITHOUT HER EXPLICIT PERMISSION. To do otherwise is to go ‘way over the line in terms of invasion of someone’s personal space. It is crude behavior at best, and actionable behavior at worst….
For me to grab Connie’s breast is inexcusable, indefensible, gauche, and properly offensive to any observers or those who heard of it later.

and get this:

She linked to Ellison’s apology, which was the sort of non-apology I’ve gotten used to hearing from public figures when they don’t understand that they did anything wrong. (emphasis mine)

Non-apology?

What’s interesting to me is that this post uses the tactic of “what you said is ___, but what you REALLY MEANT is ____.” That gets used all the time against feminists, often in the “what you REALLY mean is that you hate men/want men castrated/are a lesbian/etc etc.” SO I’m surprised you’re using it as well. I might also note that when one is dealing with an author who (even if he’s an asshole) is capable of expressing what he means fairly well. So I figure that if he said something, well, that’s what he meant.