Since there are so many people posting on their blogs lately, it seems like a post can easily slide into oblivion before it ever gets fair exposure.

A TPM blogger called me out on an insensitive post and I owed her an apology.  Unfortunately, I don't know if she ever got the apology--her post slipped off the list of recent reader posts during a very busy period of blogger postings.  I keep checking the thread for her response, but there's nothing.

So I decided to make a post of my own offering an apology--specifically to her and generally to all.

Her post:

From: Cafe Even Paranoids Have Enemies

By Swapan Chatterjee - March 13, 2008, 6:59PM

Cripes yourself Laura.  Looks as if you are again, shooting without looking first. This is what you wrote, “Hillary is going to have to increasingly claim that everyone is out to "get" her. She's going to look absolutely ridiculous. First it's the vast right-wing conspiracy. Then, it's the unfairly biased television media. Now I'm starting to hear that it's liberal print journalism and the blogosphere as well.”  

My response:

Mea culpa!

I should be fair: it's not Hillary saying this kind of crazy stuff. I shouldn't have worded my comment as a burn against Hillary Clinton herself.

I was making fun of some of her most defensive and irrational supporters who see unfairness everywhere they turn. After a while, they begin to sound ridiculous.

Unfortunately, when supporters become zealous, it seems like they become less able to distinguish between themselves and their preferred candidate. They internalize perceived slights against their candidate and feel personally attacked. I confess I am not immune to this, but I haven't given up trying to remain rational!

On the flip side, another mistake is attributing supporters' words and deeds to the candidates themselves. Maintaining this distinction gets really tricky and I clearly failed here.

In addition, I think zealous support makes it harder to remember that people who support the "enemy" are distinct individuals who don't all necessary think with the same brain. We get into trouble when we start seeing sentences that begin with "you people," and "XXXXXX supporters are the kind of people who (fill in your favorite fantasy construct)." When I see generalizations like that--lumping me into a group and labeling me--I feel insulted. It's disrespectful of each person's ability to think independently. So I should conscientiously try to avoid doing it to others.

I did a poor job of wording my comment and I apologize for that. I don't believe what I said is true of Hillary Clinton herself, and I don't believe that ALL of her supporters sound crazy.