Have you ever put your foot in your mouth, then refused to back down until the din of people calling you a racist/misogynist/extremist/asshole grew so loud you couldn’t stand it any more, and had to try to put some distance between you and the opinion that in reality has in no way changed? This is a fairly routine occurrence for pundits, whose livelihood is defendant on them walking the fine line between being outrageous but acceptable and revealing too much of their true selves.
The key to the perfect backpedal is to admit you were wrong, but in a way that makes it clear your heart was in the right place, and anyway, you meant what you said, just not how you said it. It’s a mea culpa without the culpa.
If you’re Newt Gingrich and you’ve been calling Judge Sonia Sotomayor a racist, and this gets widely reported in the national media to the point where the barista in the Starbucks where you secretly get your foamy lattes gives you stink eye, you say “Whoa, calm down, I just overreacted. Sotomayor isn’t a racist, and I shouldn’t have used that word. Now will you take my order?” Then, under your breath, you use air quotes around “wise Latina” to try to make the point that she’s a racist without ever having to use the offending word.
If you’re Bill O’Reilly, and for the last four years you’ve been painting a bullseye on George Tiller, a Kansas doctor who is one of three in the nation that performs late-term abortions, and Tiller is gunned down by a lone anti-abortion activist in his place of worship, it doesn’t look good for you. In fact, it kind of looks like you were inciting violence. But you won’t back down. “No backpedaling here,” you’ll say. “Everything we said about Tiller was true.” When it’s pointed out what a monumental douche this makes you, of course, you’ll backpedal. But you’re still glad “Tiller the Baby Killer” is dead, and when the furor dies down, that will probably slip out.
And now, our standard warning: Don’t try these sorts of (anti)intellectual gymnastics at home. These men are paid professionals in a controlled environment.
