2004: The Year in Excuses, from Reason:
Less than two weeks after Dean’s lackluster performance on ABC, a nascent political star showed that he was made of savvier stuff. I speak, of course, of Justin Timberlake, who, after preemptively striking Janet Jackson’s leather bustier in a most deliberate manner and thereby exposing her surprisingly sophisticated secret weapons program, claimed it was all an accident. “I am sorry if anyone was offended by the wardrobe malfunction during the halftime performance at the Super Bowl. It was not intentional and is regrettable,” he intoned, showing a knack for catchy euphemism and stiff, rear-view probity that will no doubt catapult him all the way to the White House someday.
The whole article is good.