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"Shove it," Heinz Kerry told Colin McNickle, editor of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's conservative editorial page, after she lectured Pennsylvania delegates Sunday night on the need for civility in politics.

"I asked for clarification, and her response goes down in history," McNickle said.

The confrontation grabbed headlines and video clips around the world. It may have underscored some pundits' predictions that Heinz Kerry's penchant for off-the-cuff comments may play a role in Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's campaign against President Bush.

Reporters who witnessed the exchange said McNickle was not out of order to question Heinz Kerry on the meaning of one of her comments during her speech at the Massachusetts Statehouse.

"We need to turn back some of the creeping, un-Pennsylvanian and sometimes un-American traits that are coming into some of our politics," Heinz Kerry told Pennsylvania delegates. The incident was captured on videotape by WTAE-TV.

McNickle asked her what she meant by "un-American activity."

"No, I didn't say that, I did not say 'activity' or 'un-American,'" responded Heinz Kerry, who walked away briefly before returning to ask McNickle if he was with the Tribune-Review.

"Yes, I am," McNickle replied.

"Understandable," Heinz Kerry said. "You said something I didn't say. Now shove it!"

Some, like U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, responded with encouragement. Clinton, the subject of scathing editorials in the Trib during her husband's presidency, told CNN:

"A lot of Americans are going to say, 'Good for you, you go girl,' and that's certainly how I feel about it."

Others, like Molly Meijer Wertheimer, professor of communication and women's studies at Penn State-Hazleton, said Heinz Kerry's comment may have been a slip, but "a big one."

"I think it was a mistake. It's just impolite," said Wertheimer, editor and co-author of "Inventing a Voice: The Rhetoric of American First Ladies of the Twentieth Century," a book published in January.

Heinz Kerry could offset damage to her image if she apologizes for her remark and explains the context of how she used the term "un-American," Wertheimer said. "I think if the context comes out, it won't be that terrible. It's a tempest in a teapot."

Kerry, who married the Heinz heiress in 1992, offered support for his wife.

"I think my wife speaks her mind appropriately," Kerry said of the incident.

The reporters who witnessed the exchange appeared to be flummoxed.

"Reporters wanted to know what she meant. Colin asked -- in an aggressive but not unusual manner. ... He was behaving like a reporter," said political reporter Peter L. DeCoursey of The Patriot-News in Harrisburg.

"She only got mad when she read his badge, when she read the words 'Tribune-Review,'" DeCoursey said.

"Yes, she said, 'Shove it.' What's more interesting is that she specifically came back to tell him to shove it," he said. "She elbowed her way back through her own aides to come back and wave her finger in Colin's face, and tell him to shove it.

The video crew for WTAE-TV news anchor Scott Baker captured Heinz Kerry's remarks. Baker said McNickle had asked "a pretty straightforward question."

"He was not combative. I think he seemed to be polite. The question that he asked was one that had already occurred to me," Baker said. "Clearly, she was rankled by it."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette political editor James O'Toole, who also was present, said he wasn't close enough to hear the exchange.

O'Toole said the widespread attention being given Heinz Kerry's comment underscores "the dearth of news at the convention."

"It sort of jumps up to fill the vacuum," he said. "I don't know that it's hugely newsworthy in terms of significance, but in a People Magazine sort of way, it's interesting when a potential first lady uses unscripted, colorful language."

Julie Hirschfeld Davis, the Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Baltimore Sun, said she first thought Heinz Kerry had said, "'Shut up.' I listened to my tape, and she said, 'Shove it.'"

Davis said campaign aides urged Heinz Kerry not to respond.

"You could tell from her demeanor that she wanted to respond, and she wasn't going to be hustled off without saying anything," she said. "It was very clear from the look on her face and the words she spoke that she was angry with his characterization of her remarks.

"It seemed very important to her to make clear to him that she had not said what he was alleging she said."

Loose lips

Controversial remarks and actions from first ladies and would-be first ladies:

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