Mr. Peretz quoted a column yesterday on his blog from The Daily Beast's Tunku Varadarajan in which Mr. Varadarajan compared John McCain to Liza Minnelli. It was really no big deal, just a few words at the bottom of a big block quote. Mr. Peretz also quoted Mr. Varadarajan's comparison of Mr. McCain to Barnacles.

But Mr. Peretz apologized today for circulating the reference to Ms. Minnelli. He's a big fan! His "movie director son, Jesse" cast her in a film, The X, three years ago, so they're sort of close. He said he was sorry but not entirely to blame. (When you're in your seventies people blog blockquotes for you?)

"Minnelli has been a talented singer and actress for several decades, and she still has the the [sic] warranted courage to perform," he wrote this morning on his blog, The Spine. "What's more, she is one of those paradigmatic entertainers who gives of herself--her ample brain and enchanting personality--in the cause of human rights, a cause not as popular as it once was was."

"And, by the way," he added, "what an exemplary private life she has had."