It shows the negotiating power of the Internet to the world. After all, the bill was defeated by online communities like Reddit, Wikipedia or HN right here. If anything that's an admission that online communities should be listened to, much more often.
And I like that. When people ask me where I'm from, I often jokingly answer "From the Internet", I'm sure a lot of people here can relate to this feeling. I'm not a US citizen, but being from the Internet I am directly impacted by these laws. I am glad to think that my "people" (fellow interneteese) and I can make ourselves heard.
Many people simply believe that the government and these lobbyists are fighting for their interests, after all they are honest taxpayers that go to vote. Which in the case of SOPA/PIPA is simply not true and the world needs to know that this was a mixture of malevolence and incompetence.
And despite what some people on HN think about the power of lobbying with money, raising awareness is the most effective tool at our disposal. SOPA was stopped on tracks because the likes of Wikipedia and Google and dozens of others got the message out.
I have off course no proof, and he might very well be honest and sincere about admitting his error (although he would not have committed this it, I think, had he done his job properly).
While hollywood pays, they throw try to screw up a lot of things as soon as the payment(s) stop, they turn around and admit crap like this - so tell me. What good does this guys admission of being stupid do to other bills like PIPA?