A Couple of Classy Guys

President Bush had a bit of an embarrassing moment during his press conference yesterday when he kidded a reporter about wearing sunglasses when he asked a question. It turns out the reporter has a degenerative eye condition that requires him to wear shades in bright light. I like the way both of these guys handled the situation:

(Peter) Wallsten said Bush called his cell phone later in the day to apologize and tell him that he didn't know he had the disease. Wallsten said he interrupted and told the president that no apology was necessary and that he didn't feel offended since he hadn't told anyone at the White House about his condition.

"He said, `I needle you guys out of affection,'" Wallsten said. "I said, 'I understand that, but I don't want you to treat me any differently because of this.'"

Wallsten said the president said he would not treat him differently, so Wallsten encouraged him to "needle away."

"He said, `I will. Next time I'll just use a different needle,'" Wallsten said.

Wallsten said he thought that was a pretty good line.

You won't see me offering much praise to members of the press, but I thought Mr. Wallsten handled that whole situation with a lot of class. Same with the president. That's the way things should work.