Sorry, I gotta call Josh Marshall out on this one.

Okay, so I'm sure everyone's read about Hillary Clinton tearing up at an appearance this morning. It's the big story of the day, I'm sure all the cable channels are wearing out their tape of it at this point.

Josh Marshall has been going back to the story all day, and one of the headlines in his sidebar reads ' Edwards to Hillary: Don't Be A Crybaby.' And on TPM Cafe, Todd Gitlin takes Edwards to task for being a big mean meanie.

Now, this is the kind of response that gives my entire sex a bad name--the "resolve" to rough up the opposition any old way. Where is Edwards' regional charm all of a sudden? I do wonder what it is the reporters heard that led them to paraphrase his first response as "offering little sympathy"--and would be interested to know if any readers see a fuller quote--but in any event, I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is a wise human being, and yes, wise human beings have been known to tear up.

The problem is that Gitlin quotes ABC News' 'Blotter' blog, which clearly takes a statement made by Edwards out of context. Here's the quote from The Blotter:

Edwards offered little sympathy and pounced on the opportunity to question Clinton's ability to endure the stresses of the presidency.

"I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the United States is also tough business," Edwards told reporters Laconia, New Hampshire.

Makes him sound pretty mean, right? Not to mention that Marshall's headline completely blows the statement out of all proportion.

But here's a quote from CNN's site that shades it a bit differently (emphasis mine):

At a New Hampshire campaign event, presidential rival John Edwards told reporters he was unaware of Clinton's emotional reaction and would not respond to it, but added, according to CNN's Dugald McDonnell: "I think what we need in a commander in chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are a tough business, but being President of the United States is also a very tough business. And the President of the United States is faced with very, very difficult challenges every single day, difficult judgments every single day."

Now, that's a bit different. Here, it reads like Edwards was making more of a general statement about toughness and resolve, and not referring directly to the Clinton incident - in fact, he refused to comment on the Clinton incident.

I have to wonder why Marshall and Gitlin are piling on John Edwards over this. Maybe it's just a case of getting a report that lacked context, but they should most definitely update their posts to reflect what Edwards said in totality.