Walkin' it back

Imagine you have a friend who sleeps around a lot. In the course of conversation you make a joke about your friend being a slut. She bursts out in tears. "No, no, I didn't mean it," you say unconvincingly. "You don't really sleep with that many people..."

It's too late; the damage is done.

This story is political and personal.

First the political story: Rand Paul is the new nominee for the senate in Kentucky - hero of the Tea Party. The night after his election he went on Rachel Maddow's show and said some pretty interesting things... like employers should be free to discriminate. His campaign spent the next two days saying that he didn't really mean what he said. The bad news is that he had said it more than once.

And then he cancelled an appearance on Meet The Press.

*****

Now the personal: Yesterday a friend said something that hurt my feelings. I won't elaborate but I will use the scenario above. Speaking in a nonchalant manner a friend calls you a slut and then repeats it a few hours later. You don't burst out in tears but it hurts.

To my friend's credit it was not stated in malice, it was stated as fact. (This is the same friend who commented more than once that I was fat and helped lead me to the diet.)

When he realized how incredibly hurt I was he attempted over and over to walk it back. He apologized profusely and said the equivalent of "you're not that much of a slut."

I accept his apology and know that he really, really did not mean to hurt me.

However, as Rand Paul has learned some things just can't be walked back.