Generally speaking, however, I am content with the court of public opinion deciding the legitimacy of public figures public comments. If the reaction was mostly positive yet he promptly apologized it sounds like the joke was a deliberate pretext for the apology, which would make him the attention whore you called him. Exploiting a tragedy to draw attention is, IMHO, a lot worse than tame jokes about it (OTOH, I have never been impressed with him either, so small loss.)

On an unrelated note: Long time, no see; how are you and your little one? The latter got me in trouble recently, btw, because I used your spelling of her name in reference to Lenes best friend (who spells it slightly differently.) You still on Skype? Jeg trenger folk å øve norsk med.