When prodded by Whoopi Goldberg on "The View" to apologize to the Duke Lacrosse players, Al Sharpton (who is currently threatening a boycott of the New York Knicks if Isiah Thomas doesn't apologize to a woman who won sexual harrassment suit against him) wrote her a letter saying he had nothing to apologize for since he never took a stance on their guilt.

But shortly after the charges were brought, Sharpton went on the O'Reilly show and said the following:

SHARPTON: Well, first of all, the authorities have charged there was a crime, so they are not saying that at all. Second of all, people on any side of an argument have the (right) to advocate on behalf of who they believe. Thirdly, I think that when the prosecutors went forward, they clearly have said this girl is the victim, so why would we be trying the victim and not the...

And later during the same interview...

SHARPTON: This case parallels Abner Louima, who was raped and sodomized in a bathroom like this girl has alleged she was. That's the case and just like in the Louima case, you have people here saying she fabricated it. They said he fabricated it — two guys in jail right now for that.

Read the whole interview.

To suggest he didn't take a position on the case is, of course, disingenuous. He compared it to one of the more horrible cases of sexual assault in recent American history.

Given that Sharpton has never apologized to Steve Pagones, the man he once publicly and falsely accused of raping Tawana Brawley it's not at all surprising that he declines to see any reason he should apologize here.

When offered the chance by Tim Russert to say I'm sorry to Pagones a few years back, Sharpton replied, "No apology for standing up for civil rights."

Apparently, the Rev thinks making false allegations of rape is a "civil right."

Durham Prosecutor Mike Nifong is learning the hard way that it isn't.