(2006-02-27) — Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove today publicly apologized for telling the author of the new book, Strategery, that Sen. Hillary Clinton cannot be elected president because she has “a brittleness about her” that voters don’t like.

“I shouldn’t have called Sen. Clinton brittle,” said a contrite Mr. Rove. “That might leave the impression that she’s emotionally or psychologically fragile and could snap at any moment.”

By saying that the junior senator from New York has a “brittleness about her,” Mr. Rove admitted, “I may have inadvertently caused some people — who don’t realize how much I respect her — to think that Sen. Clinton might be unfit to serve as president, because she’s cold, curt, brusque, negative, tense, aloof, testy, on-edge … you know, brittle. I’m really quite sorry.”

Mr. Rove, President George Bush’s old friend and top adviser, acknowledged that the remark was “over the top” and asked the former First Lady to forgive him “within the next decade or so, if she ever gets over the bitterness of harboring a grudge against me due to my ‘brittleness’ comment.”

Sen. Clinton, asked to respond to Mr. Rove’s apology, said, “No comment,” and hung up the phone.