[There was a video here]

Current D.C. councilman and former crack-smoking "Mayor for Life" Marion Barry is "very sorry for offending the Asian American community" by making this astonishingly offensive comment at a press conference:

We've got to do something about these Asians coming in, opening up businesses, those dirty shops. They ought to go. I'll just say that right now, you know. But we need African American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.

Following outcry about his rancid and shameless bigotry, the Civil Rights Movement veteran apologized late last night on Twitter—and then defended "the facts" of his comments:

I admit, I could and should have said it differently. But the facts are still very present in our daily lives here. We are tired of sub-standard treatment, tired of being kept [at] arms length distance, tired of the lack of community engagement.

Do you really think that apology was heartfelt, Marion?

It is as solid as Marion Barry can make it.

And that is the story of how someone can have a few successes early in his career, then spend the rest of it being an absolute piece of shit and persist nonetheless.

[Washington Post, video via NBC-Washington]