Portfolio Editor, HuffPo Contributor Matt Cooper Compares Kennedy Death to 9/11

"It feels a bit like 9/11 on Martha's Vineyard. End-of-summer weather is achingly beautiful but the mood is melancholy because of Teddy." [click image at right to see larger image of screen capture]

Thus wrote Matt Cooper, editor of Conde Nast Portfolio on his Twitter page a few hours ago. The former Time magazine White House correspondent, who also writes for Huffington Post, walked back his statement a bit later after some criticism from other Twitter users:

Didn't mean to equate Teddy's death with the murders of 9/11. Only meant small similarity: beautiful weather, tragic feel. HT @thetonylee

Cooper followed that with two other tweets to JP Freire of the Washington Examiner and Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher magazine, respectively:

@JPFreire You're right. I put it poorly and didn't mean to equate 3000 murders with one expected death.

@GregMitch Said it clumsily. Didn't mean to equate one death with 3000 murders, only the contrast with late summer weather and sadness.

Speaking of Twitter, be sure to follow NewsBusters and The MRC on Twitter. You can also follow yours truly here.