Noonan aplogizes for Palin remarks -- sort of

The conservative columnist says part of what she said about the Republican vice-presidential nominee was taken out of context.

Published September 4, 2008 2:50PM (EDT)

Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan had some 'splaining to do last night. On Wednesday, she -- along with MSNBC's Chuck Todd and prominent GOP strategist Mike Murphy -- was caught on a live mike calling the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate "political bullshit," something at odds with the tone of the column she'd just published. So now she has explained herself. And apologized. Well, to a certain extent, at least.

"Well, I just got mugged by the nature of modern media, and I wish it weren't my fault, but it is," Noonan says in a new introduction appended to the online version of her column from Wednesday. She continues:

In our off-air conversation, I got on the subject of the leaders of the Republican party assuming, now, that whatever the base of the Republican party thinks is what America thinks. I made the case that this is no longer true ... And when I said, "It's over!" -- and I said it more than once -- that is what I was referring to ...

However, I did say two things that I haven't said in public, either in speaking or in my writing. One is a vulgar epithet that I wish I could blame on the mood of the moment but cannot ... But, bottom line, I am certainly sorry I blurted my barnyard ephithet, I am certainly sorry that someone abused my meaning in the use of the words, "It's over," and I'm sorry I didn't have the Kay Bailey Hutchison thought before this morning, because I could have written of it. There. Now: onto today's column.


By Alex Koppelman

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon.

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