During Tom Shales' online chat today, he defended his cowardly attack on ABC's Christiane Amanpour, in which Shales suggested the host had extending sympathies to members of the Taliban who died the previous week during This Week's “In Memoriam” segment.

From his online Q&A [emphasis added]:

This portion of the program had traditionally included the names of U.S. servicemen and women who had given their lives for their country. Now suddenly Amanpour decided it should be a tribute to all those who died in any wars -- and presumably that would include those who died fighting AGAINST the United States as well as for it -- which I think is taking pacifism or magnanimity too far. If this were 1943, we would hardly think it appropriate to mourn Nazi casualties.

This is just disgraceful. In the segment Shales refers to, the names of U.S. servicemen and women who had given their lives to for their country were included. As part of her narration, Amanpour simply said, “We remember all those who died in war this week.” And from that, Shales suggested the ABC anchor was mourning the Taliban dead?

Shales' defense of his Amanpour cheap shot is shallow and dishonest, and the fact that Shales won't apologize only adds to the Post's embarrassment.

UPDATED: When directly confronted about the wording of his Amanpour smear by online questioner, Shales begged off saying he didn't have the column in front of him and therefore couldn't address the specific charge leveled against him.

Oh brother.