You might remember the horrific story about Michelle Wilkins, the pregnant woman in Longmont, Colorado, who was attacked by a deranged woman with a knife, who stabbed her, removed her 7-month-old fetus in an amateur C-section, and then was arrested when she brought the dead fetus to a hospital, claiming she'd miscarried. It was a horrible crime, but to Colorado wingnut preacher, actual member of the Colorado House of Representatives, and alleged human being Gordon Klingenschmitt, it was a pretty obvious sign that God has cursed America for allowing abortion to be legal.

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So here's something to give you a glimmer of hope: It's entirely possible that Gordon Klingenschmitt may have finally gone too far, even for Colorado Springs and its frothing mad fundagelical community. Colorado Republicans are distancing themselves from him, apparently noticing for the first time that he's morally repugnant. We won't be surprised if his colleagues start wearing Hazmat suits around him. After initially claiming that his religious freedom was endangered by the criticism, Klingenschmitt suddenly apologized today.

And the family of Michelle Wilkins has pointedly refused to accept a donation Klingenschmitt attempted to make to Ms. Wilkins's GoFundMe campaign:

So far, the GoFundMe campaign for Wilkins has raised over $100,000 from more than 2000 donors, well over the initial $75K goal; the funds will go to help with her medical bills and trying to put her life back together.

For his part, Klingenschmitt initially made quite a show of insisting that he was being victimized for simply stating the obvious truth, that God allowed a deranged person to attack Ms. Wilkins because of Roe v. Wade. On Friday, he refused to retract or apologize for his comments about the crime, insisting that Colorado Republicans shouldn't criticize him because he was speaking as a preacherman, not as a member of the House, and so he was being oppressed or something:

Klingenschmitt was interviewed on KOA News Radio 850 in Denver this morning about his comments, where he absurdly stated that "if you were offended because I quoted the bible in church, I ask you to forgive me but I will not apologize for quoting the Bible in church." [...]

"If the government is now going to step into my church on Sunday and say 'oh, you're not allowed to do that because you are an elected official," he said, "I would ask people to take a step back and think about how the government should be protecting your freedom of worship on Sunday and maybe cut me a little slack."

Klingenschmitt apparently realized that he was doing a fine job of rolling out quite enough rope to make a second term unlikely, because over the weekend (and no doubt after getting a clear message from God or just reading his email), Klingenschmitt has decided -- as far as we know, for the first time ever -- that he was wrong. On Monday, Klingenschmitt posted a 30-minute video, most of which was devoted to pointing out how various Denver-area reporters and others had misreported his statements, but which did at least close with an actual apology -- not a "sorry if you were offended" notpology, but the real thing:

I do want to apologize for my words last week, because I was so angry that I forgot to be compassionate. My words were not compassionate and therefore I apologize. My tone was wrong. My choice of words was wrong. My choice of scripture was wrong. Everything I did about that report was wrong and honestly I apologize to you, Dan and Michelle Wilkins; I apologize to you, the viewers; I apologize to the voters and constituents of Colorado Springs and anybody out there who actually did hear accurate reporting and was offended by my insensitive words, I apologize to you.

So sure, he put a woman through additional hell by holding her personal tragedy up as an example of God's curse on America and the work of a "demonic spirit of murder" at loose in the land because we have turned against God. But he's way sorry now. But only for what he actually said, not what lying liars (i.e., everyone in the media, including Yr Wonkette) said. So good on Gordon "Dr. Chaps" Klingenschmitt: out of a 30-minute video, he devoted a couple of minutes to apologizing and 20 minutes decrying "dishonest reporters" for lying about poor oppressed Gordon Klingenschmitt.

It's awfully nice of him to clear the air like that.

[RightWingWatch / RightwingWatch again / RightWingWatch one last time Michelle Wilkins Fund on GoFundMe]