Job. Ed grovels to keep it – his job that is, not his dignity. In a characteristic celebrity apology, Ed the talking head emoted effusively over his verbal faux pas – complete with carefully rehearsed suppressed tears – over what he said: namely that Laura Ingram is a ‘‘right-wing slut’”. He made no mention that he had changed his mind, just that he should not have spoken his mind.

I expect Ed’s bosses are possessive, wanting to retain the epithet of “slut” for exclusive application to the left.

Here he is in all his insincerity: