Time's Halperin Apologizes For Saying Edwards "Thinks Obama Is Kind Of A Pussy"

Fishbowl DC reported this morning that Time's Mark Halperin "has a filthy, dirty mouth," quoting from his interview yesterday with Sirius Radio's Bill Geddie:

BILL GEDDIE: Haven't we heard all along that [John Edwards] doesn't like [Hillary Clinton], haven't we heard this?

MARK HALPERIN: Yes, that's right. And I can tell you, he's really skeptical of her ability to be the kind of president he wants. But, he kinda thinks Obama is..he thinks Obama is kind of a pussy.He has real questions about Obama's toughness, his readiness for the office.he has real doubts about Obama, not just as a president, but as a general election candidate.

This afternoon, Halperin issued a very vague apology on Time.com's The Page:

I'm sorry. In a live radio interview this week, I used a word I shouldn't have. The fact that I was conveying other people's words is no excuse for my lapse in judgment. It won't happen again. -- Mark Halperin

Comments

[MikeDu]

Sorry guys. I can't work up ANY outrage at all on this. Should I be offended by the phrase "kind of a pussy" on feminist 'pussy-used-as-perjorative' grounds? Or offended that the phrase was the reporter's own interpretation of Edward's unstated opinions, or offended that Edwards should dare to consider Obama unmanly? There's nothing there for me to hang my hat on.

[apresdeluge]

Rather than playing into the media's hand and commenting on all this name calling hype; take a couple of minutes to read Joe Wilson's take on Hillary vs Obama in winning the election and leading the country. His sober analysis is based on fact and experience. He should know, he's been there.......

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-wilson/battletested_b_86355.html

[kennedy]

This is an excerpt from Joe Wilsons piece:
( that was on Huff. Post)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the few who fully understood the stakes in that battle. Time and again, she reached out to my wife -- outed CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson -- and me to remind us that as painful as the attacks were, we simply could not allow ourselves to be driven from the public square by bullying. To do so would validate the radical right's thesis that the way to win debates is to demonize opponents, taking full advantage of the natural desire to avoid confrontation, even if it means yielding on substantive issues. Hillary knew this from experience, having spent the better part of the past 20 years fighting the Republican attack machine. She is a fighter.

But will Mr. Obama fight? His brief time on the national scene gives little comfort. Consider a February 2006 exchange of letters with Mr. McCain on the subject of ethics reform. The wrathful Mr. McCain accused Mr. Obama of being "disingenuous," to which Mr. Obama meekly replied, "The fact that you have now questioned my sincerity and my desire to put aside politics for the public interest is regrettable but does not in any way diminish my deep respect for you." Then one of McCain's aides said of Obama, "Obama wouldn't know the difference between an RPG and a bong."

Mr. McCain was insultingly dismissive but successful in intimidating his inexperienced colleague. Thus, in his one face-to-face encounter with Mr. McCain, Mr. Obama failed to stand his ground.

What gives us confidence Mr. Obama will be stronger the next time he faces Mr. McCain, a seasoned political fighter with extensive national security credentials? Even more important, what special disadvantages does Mr. Obama carry into this contest on questions of national security?

( CONT')

[kennedy]

How will Mr. Obama answer Mr. McCain about his careless remark about unilaterally bombing Pakistan -- perhaps blowing up an already difficult relationship with a nuclear state threatened by Islamic extremists? How will Mr. Obama respond to charges made by the Kenyan government that his campaigning activities in Kenya in support of his distant cousin running for president there made him "a stooge" and constituted interference in the politics of an important and besieged ally in the war on terror?

Thank you apresdeluge for the link and thank you Joe Wilson for the truth.

[SeekerOne]

He's been there. As opposed to all the other experts backing Obama?

He also seems to have a personal relationship with the Clintons. A friend is never an objective source of information.

What about Hillary's vote that allowed Bush to take us to war? She says she didn't know. The world knew what Bush was up to. So she exhibits very bad judgment because it was the easy, politic way out (at the time) and, to follow it up, she still can't admit it was bad judgment. How long might be the list, the anecdotal accounts of Hillary Clinton's acquiescences, inflexibilies and bad judgments over the years?

[moevaughn]

Since this campaign began, media people have been calling Hillary every name in the book: cackly witch, cold and calculating, etc. etc.--even calling her daughter a prostitute.
With the primary nearing its end, a media commentator has the audacity to say Obama is a little wimpy--and everyone freaks out!! Poor little likeable Obama. The media ought to go after O the way they have HRC, then O's people would rightfully have a legitimate complaint.
The media makes up personalities to suit their choices. They've pre-determined O is the annointed one and have therefore deemed him Mr. Likeable--wouldn't you just love to have a beer with guy? (Maybe Bush will join you.)

[ms.understood]

I completely agree with you. But if people think about it, a "pussy" isn't actually weak. After all, they withstand childbirth, so maybe men should think of another word for a weak man!

[DrVandy]

Clintonfans are something else. Shuster should be fired for using the term "pimped out" about Chelsea Clinton but a simple apology is fine for referring to Barack Obama as a p#ssy. Would you feel the same if he had referred to Hillary as a c#nt?

Poor little put upon Hillary who has had the benefit of being he wife of a two-term president and all of his connections and fundraising. Her campaign is incompetent. They managed to waste over $100 million before IA. Don't blame Barack for Hillary's incompetence.

[orderinchaos]

Referring to HRC as kind of a "c#nt" wouldn't work. If you say she is "kind of a dick"..now that would be saying something. Enough of the misogyny and Edwards IS kind of a pussy and the voters saw through this.

[musselmanm]

I do not any longer drink but due to my chronic pain from helping to build the infrastructure of our country, I do now use weed.
I would really like to get stoned with him.
Yes I am serious.
If all you baby boomers are honest, you will admit your previous use. You will, at least most of you have to admit that it at worst, made you have the munchies.

[musselmanm]

And Bill Clinton also. Has he been asked lately for a hair sample?

[kellygrrrl]

I was under the impression that journalists needed a college degree. Why are there so many morons in the media?

[HowietheScreamer]

THAT requirement went by the way side LOOOOONG ago... Just look at Faux Nooze.

[pithymaxim]

Halperin's lack of boundaries suggests a fronta lobe problem, perhaps exacerbated by substance abuse.

[pithymaxim]

sorry, frontal lobe

[pc51]

Obama is kinda wishy washy, all those tough votes he skipped out on and stuff. He won't be able to make the tough calls if he is elected. The republicans are gonna walk all over him and he will not have the 'you know whats' to withstand it. It will be a four year humiliation that will make the Bush years look like...a cakewalk. Everyone will be like..."WTF" all day, everyday while he flounders around. All Obama has is the fairy dust of "hope" and a lot of shallow promises, no substance really. Like an American Idol contestent!

[Waitaminute]

right, riiiiiight....riiiiggght, here we go with that big bad republican machine again. The same machine who lost (they stole) the 2000 and 2004 elections. The same big baaaddd republican machine who lost both houses of congress in 2006? RIGHT, RIIIGHT, RIIIIGGGHT....

Now if you mentioned those big bad voting machines, that the DEM majority did absolutely nothing about. Then you'd be saying something.

[chocco]

First, we had David Schuster with his "pimping" comment. Now, we have Mark Halperin with his "pussy" comment. Obviously, these guys have got only one thing on their minds. They are total sleazebags and should go out on the streets, where they belong, to do their whoring, not in the media. I am sick of the the "news" being about these assholes. They are supposed to be conveying the news, not making it.
To all of them I say, if you can't stop with the sex comparisons, then shut up.

[fairwitness]

As usual in Republican-speak, when you hear one of them calling others names, you can be assured they themselves are epitomizing the epithet they project; if they are accusing, rest assured they are guilty of the accusation they project. I learned that from listening to Rush Limbaugh, and it turns out it is a general Republican principle on which one can count.

[Noracharles1995]

Agreed, this election makes me think we're headed toward the "Idiocracy" Mike Judge illustrated in his movie of the same name. I guess soon we'll see them reading the news in their underwear and sprinkling it with cusswords just like in the movie.

And there is NO WAY JRE could have said this about BHO. He's far smarter and classier than that. Allegedly smart people actually believing he said it also make me think we're headed toward the Idiocracy.

[bobdevo]

Don't blame Edwards for whatever comes out of Halperin's lying Republican mouth. He's probably just pissing in the soup to try to get his Crazy Old Coot™ elected in November.

[JonathanTroy]

If Halperin was "conveying other people's words" he should say whose words they are, instead of leaving the impression that they were Edwards' words. An attorney friend of mine has known John Edwards for many years, and when I called him a few minutes ago to ask if this was in character for Edwards, he said he's never heard Edwards use language like this.

[onlinesavant]

Why would anyone take this Halperin guy seriously? I mean, he's just spouting unverifiable second-hand information. C'mon. We all know how so-called journalist in the corporate media love to create imbroglios where there are none in lieu of real investigative reporting on issues that really matter. For all we know, Edwards could have said that Halperin is a pussy for spreading chidish rumors.

[Tankan]

Disengenuious in capital letters!

Never allow anybody to force you to apologise, it's a sign of moral weakness!

[Jey]

Boy how odd some of these high society men have such a potty mouth.

Go Barack, you have manners and charisma. They're jealous of you.

[nerakami]

Edwards is no longer in the running... so "sour grapes" are no longer relevant

[finally]

but he's "dying to play a major role on the national front" - Edwards' advisors' words! Joining O's bandwagon now won't give him much, wheras HRC is despearate for any good news, and he might get AG or labor... Hope we don't have to find out! I had hoped Elizabeth would be able to stop her husband from exposing himself to ridicule....

[TimSearl]

Well- as Both he and Hillary signed Bush's permission slip to go to war, I guess they have THAT in common.

[independentrepublicrat]

It wasn't the first time Halperin has done this. I watched him convey the same sentiment on cable news over the last few weeks.

[Star123]

Ooo--a twofer. You get Edwards and Obama with this one!

[Micaanab]

What's really going on here is you have the old style politics that says you have to be a jackass. They think being tuff is making enemies of the other parting. They feel you need to sling mud to get results. That is why Obama has been doing so well. He doesn't do that. It's refreshing to see a candidate that truly is above that.