“Tragedy comes in threes,” O’Donnell said. “Pearl Harbor, Elizabeth Edwards’s passing and Barack Obama’s announcement of extending the tax cuts, which is good, but also extending the unemployment benefits.”…

Speaking to reporters after her remarks Tuesday, O’Donnell backed off from the suggestion that the extension of benefits was a tragedy.

“That’s not what I meant at all,” said O’Donnell, who went on to explain that her opposition to the extension of unemployment benefits emanates from how the extension is paid for.

“If we’re going to extend the jobless benefits we have got to cut spending programs and that’s the flaw in his announcement,” she said. “That’s the tragedy.”