Well, I guess I appreciate him not pretending to have reconsidered after the public response, OTOH, I don't know why one would appreciate someone not actually reconsidering such a position.

I fail to understand how, as often seems to be the case with issues like this, people respond with an attitude of "well, sure, he's got a horrible position, but at least he stubbornly refuses to reconsider it even when large numbers of people point out how horrible it is".