Rupert Murdoch has apologized for blaming the polarization of our political debate on the fact that New York Gov. David Paterson is "blind, and can't read braille, and doesn't know what's going on."

Murdoch made the bizarre comment at a Wall Street Journal conference earlier this week, and he called Paterson in Albany yesterday to, in Paterson's words, apologize "like a gentleman." Which is odd, because in Murdoch-world, gentlemen do not apologize—they attack, destroy, and admit nothing. Murdoch's newfound willingness to eat crow—remember that he also apologized for the New York Post's cartoon depicting President Barack Obama as a dead chimpanzee—is disconcerting to those of us who make a living in part from chronicling his vile behavior. Is he growing a conscience?

An anonymous Paterson aide told the New York Daily News that the governor considered Murdoch's remark a "random misstatement," which points to a more likely explanation for the News Corp. CEO's odd behavior of late: The old man is losing it. We look forward to more random misstatements in the near future.