Savage's 2003 column was patently offensive, there's no question. But it's also seven years old, and the guy has obviously grown since then; the tone of his column has changed from snarky and offensive to mostly serious with a dash of humour, and his chosen terminology has grown and changed alongside that. It's somewhat annoying that he doesn't want to address the stuff he said in '03, but not unforgivable, at least to me.
