According to the Washington Post, critics of Nina Totenberg got it all wrong when they jumped on her for using “forgive the expression” as a qualifier for “Christmas party”:

[W]e reached Totenberg herself during her “Christmas vacation” (her term) in Jamaica. Turns out her critics got it completely wrong: She was, she says, defending Christmas. The DOJ celebration was officially dubbed a “holiday” party, and she was gently mocking that generic designation. “I think that’s kind of silly, because it’s obviously a Christmas party,” she told us. “I was tweaking the Department of Justice. It was a touch of irony at the expense of the Justice Department, not at the expense of Christmas.”

As for the bloggers who were so quick to judge – without bothering to ask her what she meant: “Jeesh, these folks need a life – and perhaps a touch of the Christmas spirit as well.”

Well golly gee, those stupid bloggers! Of course, that bit of context is completely missing from her comment. And there’s really nothing about the statement itself that demanded calls for clarification, nor do I suspect that Nina would have wanted thousands of bloggers calling her up to see if she really meant something other than what she clearly said.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that she was making fun of the PC brigade, rather than leading their deranged charge into holiday revisionism (assuming this clarification is to be believed, which I think it is), but it’s ridiculous to blame viewers for concluding as they did. Her intent is simply impossible to gather from the context of her quote. Who outside of the DC bubble could possibly know, after all, what DoJ called their party? Even most of us IN the bubble didn’t know.

That the only reasonable interpretation of her statement without that critical context included is exactly the opposite of her intent is not proof that those who were critical of her “need a life,” but rather that she needs to be clear and accurate in expressing her ideas. Her job being what it is, you’d think she’d understand that by now.