In the case of the pizza CEO, the headline is what is misleading, making the apology sound like an admission.

In the case of the representative, it's a case of the denial sounding like an admission.

For the pizza man, it is CEO of Papa John's, John Schnatter, who rightfully apologized for an employee (or ex-employee, as he noted) leaving a voicemail of a customer after butt-dialing him and going on a racist rant about his supposedly low $5 tip... not that low for a $15 order, by the way.

Talk about stupid. The delivery man and the co-worker who laughed at the rant were fired, and Schnatter apologized. All seems right and proper.

However, the long-embattled CEO (fighting weakly against Obamacare by threatening the hours of his employees, being targeted by Deadspin for appearing drunk at the NCAA Final Four) did not get a nice headline.

"Papa John's CEO apologizes for racist rant," read clickondetroit.com's headline. Ouch. I saw that and thought, well, there he goes again.

The subhead clears it up, but the headline on the homepage had me thinking he was the racist, something I based on prior news coverage about him in recent years. I don't think he's racist, but he is from the South and he's had headlines about intoxication and the president. Throw in the restaurant business, and one thinks of Cracker Barrel and Waffle House lawsuits.

Glad to know he's toeing the right line here, though I still prefer Papa Romano's.

Next up, Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann says she's quitting Congress, well not quitting, but she's not running for reelection, having squeaked out a meager victory in 2010.

The often-embattled Congresswoman posted a youtube video explaining reasons that did not impact her decision to leave the House.

It is not because she fears losing. It is not because of investigations into prior campaigns expense reporting, related to her short-lived attempt at the presidency. She goes into deep details about expectations she had her staff obey laws. She says that "eight years is long enough."

The weird thing about the video is that it is polished and filled with background music that it sounds like a campaign ad. Less than a minute in she starts the denials, making me think she is fleeing the scene. So what does she have planned next, TV commentary and a book, or some other seat? I'm guessing she's cashing in.

Here is the video:

Here is the video feed:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Based on all the good news with various specific economic updates, factors that include manufacturing, housing prices and sales, home building, and, especially, auto sales, a bit of wishful thinking and downright optimism went into thoughts of an improving economic recovery.

Perhaps not so. Sure, bad news lingered, too: The trade deficit and lingering unemployment levels were strongest but also lackluster Christmas sales and slumping consumer confidence.

Now comes the big news, highly symbolic, yes, but also frightening, the economy shrunk for the first time in almost four years. A big oops, seeing how confidence so drives the markets. But with spending cuts promised to help ease the growing deficit, we as a nation must endure some lumps to pay for our past sins, or really spending. It's like a family (or a college student) with a credit card. Eventually, you got to pay, and it's never easy.

You can't have a recession, or in this case, a double dip recession without the first quarter of economic contraction. So what happens next? Taxes ticked upward, more spending cuts are promised and unemployment continues to impact the entire nation. Furthermore, and I think this was perhaps the biggest reason for the decline in what should have been an artificial boost the economy, the fourth-quarter shopping season, our leaders have shown no indication of working together to repair the economy.

The nation seemingly has a complete lack of confidence in our elected leaders, from the president to every member of the Senate and the House. And that's not improving any time soon. At least, there's not a major fight yet over immigration. Coming together to work on anything, forget the fight over gun violence, would help repair the damage they've caused.

This story might attract some attention, considering the recent battle over guns following the Sandy Hook shootings that left so many children dead.

The Miami Herald reports out of South Florida that in two different cases, suspected armed robbers were gunned down by potential victims.

Now,  it's common for people both sides of the political aisle to use news stories to bolster political claims and these stories may soon make big headlines.

The first case involved an employee of an Exxon in Hollywood shooting one of two armed robbery suspects, police reported. The one suspect shot ended up dead, and police later found and picked up the second suspect.

The second case was out the northeast Miami-Dade area, where a resident shot someone who was trying to rob him.

There was no immediate word if the guns used were legally owned and carried, but already the headline is big, being posted on DrudgeReport.com.

The story is to be updated by the paper.

Say it isn't so.

The Detroit News has an interesting piece that looks at what may happen if longtime Michigan Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat, would retire before his 2014 re-election. Yes, he would win if he ran.

Oh no, I say, because that would be one nasty and non-stop campaign to replace him with both Republicans and Democrats stumbling over one another for what usually is a lifetime job once elected.

For that reason alone, I hope Levin runs for re-election and wins, giving us at least one area where we're not bombarded with duplicate mailers, non-stop phone call harassment, and obnoxious tv commercials.

Come Mr. Levin, you'll be 80 in two years. You can do it.

I'm guessing it will be less close than people think. We'll know tonight. I'm expecting that the FIVE THREE EIGHT writer, Nate Silver, is right and the swing states will give Obama another four years, just as voters did in 2004, when so many hated W.