Several nights ago I wrote my first diary here, highlighting what I (and apparently, many of you) felt was a most egregiously careless comment by Maine Representative Chellie Pingree on "Hardball" -- completely misstating Boy Blue's diary title, so that it reflected an attitude that would have connoted a real threat, instead of what was actually said.
About 15 hours after the diary was published, and had been promoted to the rec list, Representative Pingree herself posted a comment, a statement of apology to the Daily Kos community and Boy Blue. By that time, however, it was a new day, and I doubt that many of you saw it.
I feel that, particularly in this day and age, for an elected official to ever admit to error is almost unheard-of, and to apologize for it to those most affected is even rarer. Therefore I am posting this follow-up diary to showcase her gracious apology.
More below the fold. . .
Here, without further ado, is Rep. Pingree's comment:
Sorry for the error
Thank you to the DKos community for the feedback. I did misspeak when I named the title of the blog on Hardball, my apologies. I appreciate BoyBlue's immediate response and explanation, and agree that this is not the equivalent of some of the more egregious examples, such as the infamous "gun sights" map. But I do hope that we all recognize in the wake of this tragedy that our words do matter and we need to choose them carefully.
Also, I just want to clarify that whether I'm in Washington or in my home district in Maine, you are welcome to call -- messages get to me from either office even when I'm not physically there. My phone number is 202-225-6116 and all my contact info is also on my website, http://pingree.house.gov/...
by Chellie Pingree on Tue Jan 11, 2011 at 06:55:38 AM PST
Further, when asked by one of the few who did see her post if she would contact Hardball as well, she answered that she was instructing her staff to contact the show and correct the record.
I think her coming here, especially in such a timely manner, was a sincere gesture and, for my part, it was much appreciated.
Obviously many of us were quite upset with the Congresswoman, even those who were clearly great fans of hers before this happened. It should be heartening to realize that, sometimes, respectfully pressuring our elected representatives is a tactic that bears positive results.