Apologies: a Great Tradition

THE OFFENSE: "Never have I been able to go out into the city as I was today."

The Republican presidential candidate speaking from his tour of a Baghdad market on April 2, adding that he felt utterly safe in the marketplace — though he was equipped with a protective vest and surrounded by the U.S. military. Baghdad residents expressed dismay at McCain's comments and Democrats ridiculed him. The next day, 21 Iraqis — most of them children — were murdered at the same market. McCain had gone to Baghdad to emphasize an earlier public statement about how some streets in the Iraqi capital were now safe to walk through — a statement that had been widely ridiculed as well. He apologized for his Baghdad remarks during a taped interview on CBS' 60 Minutes on April 7.

THE APOLOGY: "Of course I am going to misspeak and I've done it on numerous occasions and I probably will do it in the future."