An ill-fated joke that struck a hot-nerve in the media will conclude with a lunch that could not happen had Rachel Maddow’s parent’s used contraceptives (too soon?).
That’s right, conservative columnist Cal Thomas will “soon” be breaking bread with liberal MSNBC host Maddow over lunch in New York.
Thomas came under fire last week when he called MSNBC’s 9PMer “the best argument in favor of her parents using contraception” during a panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last Thursday.
His comments came following a clip of Maddow arguing that the Republicans were “waging a war on contraceptives.”
In the wake of a mini-fire storm his words caused, Maddow responded to Thomas’ comments on her show last Thursday.
“I am sorry that you feel that way about me that you wish I had never been born. Personally, I’m glad that you were born. Otherwise how would Republicans get the special Fox News bat signal that it’s time to be outraged now, about what used to be Republicans’ own policy idea?” she said, referring to an earlier clip that showed Maine Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe arguing for a contraceptive policy similar to the one proposed by the Obama administration.
On her Friday show, Maddow reported that Thomas had called to apologize.
“He didn’t mean it and he wished he hadn’t said it,” Maddow said. “I completely believe his apology. I completely accept his apology.”
In his Thursday column, Thomas offered more detail about the apology and the fact that the ideological opponents will soon be dining together in the Big Apple.
“I expect to like Rachel Maddow because my instinct is to separate the value of a person from his or her political position. For some strange reason (demon possession, perhaps) I failed to do that at CPAC,” he wrote. “So, apology delivered and accepted and lunch will soon be served. I’m trying to decide whose career might be hurt more should someone take a picture of us enjoying a meal and — it is to be hoped, at least by me — each other.”
