Newt's Sorry

It seems that Newt Gingrich is sorry for lying* about the 9/11 hijackers entering the US from Canada. It seems that Newt said "Far more of the 9/11 terrorists came across from Canada than from Mexico."

This statement is inaccurate because the number of 9/11 terrorists that entered the US from Canada is exactly equal to the number that entered from Mexico. That number is zero.

The fact that he got this wrong and has apologized is, however, less important to me than the outrageous implied responsibility that Canadians have to keep terrorists from leaking out of our country into the USA. It seems to me that if 19 hijackers entered the US from somewhere, then they all had to go through US immigration. For US politicos to go around pointing the finger at other nations for letting terrorists into the USA is absurd.

* You might wish to take me to task for calling this an instance of lying, rather than a misstatement or something equally benign. I'm just trying a new idea on for size: If someone goes on national TV and makes a statement of fact that is not true, then we'll call that a lie. If you're not certain, you should equivocate a little, for example "I believe that more 9/11 terrorists entered from Canada...". There should be a little higher standard when your words are being broadcast to millions.