LONDON— ST. LOUIS — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has apologized for a crack about Mahatma Gandhi, saying it was "a lame attempt at humor."

At a fund-raiser, the New York Democrat introduced a quote from Gandhi by saying, "He ran a gas station down in St. Louis." After laughter subsided, the former first lady continued, "No, Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader of the 20th century." (AP)

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The irony of the inane controversy surrounding Senator Hillary Clinton's quip about Mahatma Gandhi is that Gandhi himself would have been amused by the attention it has attracted, and would never have demanded the apology Clinton subsequently offered.

"If I had no sense of humor," he wrote in 1928, "I would long ago have committed suicide."

Clinton's quip is taking on a life of its own. Some of Gandhi's supporters are getting self-righteous, with a few demanding a fuller apology — Clinton apparently continued telling the joke and did not, magically, swallow the words that had already floated forth, and, through cyberspace, reached the far corners of the world.