So you think you’re tough, eh?

Well if you can dish it out, then you should be able to take it, too.

In recent days, I’ve talked about misdeeds by unnamed political groups (OK, the Tories and the NDP). And I’ll bet there’s some backroom wags thinking, ‘Who is this guy?’

It’s no secret that people of all political colours say things that they regret later.

So for them, just to prove that I’m not holier than thou . . . and I’m not a political hound, here’s the story of my own dish of freshly prepared crow.

Maybe I should try to be the writer that power brokers love to hate. I’ll end up with more knife wounds in my back than Stephane Dion.

Oh, and why don’t I take a shot at the Liberals? Easy. They’re pathetic enough already.

In the long course of political history of this Dominion, when the Liberals are down on their luck, they prove themselves to be far more anemic than the Tories.

So, to confess my own ill-thought opinions, I’ll again back up a few years, into my own newsroom.

Some of us longtime media types are quite jaded; we see things, read things and experience a lot of the bad things (and sometimes a few good things) of the world, even if we’re not out on the front lines, on the streets.

We’re observers in our ivory towers. We’ve developed our own blackened humour to deal with this stuff.

We report on accidents, natural disasters, crime and other bad behaviour . . . but hey, when we, the media, step up and say: ‘We goofed,’ then that puts us into the big leagues as well.

George W. Bush’s private war in Iraq was the spark for my own ill-thought remark. I quipped something to the effect of Dubya going in and ‘bombing the you-know-what out or Iraq.’

My callow comment struck a nerve with a former colleague, someone whose excellent work has graced the pages of our print edition, James Kwantes.

His reaction: “Dave, you wouldn’t wish war on your own family, don’t go wishing it on someone else. How can you say something so incredibly ignorant.”

Whoa. There was my wakeup call. Of course I quickly and sheepishly defended the intent of my thoughts, which were to heap ridicule on Bush. . . the cowboy for shooting first and asking questions later.

Never was it my intent to wish war or any other misery on the Iraqis. I guess I’m lucky that statement wasn’t out there, for all to see; my remark was only a statement within the confines of an office.

Mr. Kwantes, many of you will recall, told our community about his experiences in Iraq as a member of a non-governmental organization, visiting the country between the wars.

James accepted my humble apology. This episode taught me one lesson . . . think before you talk.

Later on, James invited me into his home to view his slide presentation detailing his visit among the Iraqi people.

He told how, at one point he and his group were warned . . . as the sound of a jet roared overhead (it was an American warplane, headed off to bomb something. Or somebody.) that their safety could not be guaranteed.

There you have it.

Now I feel better. I’m in the company of people in the public eye who have had to fess up and learn from their mistakes.

I hope these experiences will not be lost before they are learned of by the next generations of leaders.