Retractions Are An Art

In the final days of the campaign, retractions abound. Some are more credible and effective than others.

To show you what I mean, here is what Sarah Palin said last week in North Carolina:

We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation.

And here is her retraction:

I don't want that misunderstood. If that's the way it came across, I apologize.

Jon Stewart, of The Daily Show, also had a retraction to make, after he had jocularly said "f@#! you" to those in the McCain campaign--like Gov. Palin--who were playing the "real America" card to divide the American people. He realized his comment was inappropriately worded, and so he issued this heartfelt retraction: