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

August 27th, 2009 4:46 PM

"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.

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