So did Professor Patty get lumps of coal in her stocking?
The Columbian (who broke the original story) editorialized Tuesday that High school discussion sours when senator neglects U.S. reality:

Patty Murray had every right to say what she said last week to a group of high school students in Vancouver. No resignation is necessary.

She also had every obligation as a U.S. senator and high-level representative of this country and this state to present the United States in a far more accurate light. That she didn't is something voters can consider when she is up for re-election.
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Murray's Dec. 20 statement did clear up that she thinks Osama is a bad guy. Meanwhile, she still neglects to give U.S. actions credit or context. And her office is doing damage control by flicking mud at "right-wing demagogues."

The senator should be assured that more than the "right wing" is concerned that a U.S. senator does not see the importance of representing America in a correct light to its young people.

No one is arguing her right to say any damn fool thing she wants. We are merely dismayed that a US Senator is either completely clueless or thoroughly dishonest. I rate the Columbian's response at one lump.

Over at the Tacoma News Tribune, we find the "ignorant goof" explanation in A shallow lecture from Sen. Murray:

Should Washington's U.S. Sen. Patty Murray resign her seat in disgrace for suggesting the United States could learn something from Osama bin Laden's charity work?

Of course not, despite all the hyperventilating to that effect from national conservative action groups and right-wing talk radio.

Should the senator have chosen her words more carefully last week when she addressed a group of high school students in Vancouver, Wash.? Yes, she should have. As it was, she sounded singularly shallow.

Shallow? I guess ole Patty just hasn't been paying attention to current events. Later on, they describe what they think Patty "really" meant. Rating: half a lump.

Speaking of which, the Seattle Times seemed to be sniffing Patty's famous tennis shoes in Those silly attacks on Sen. Patty Murray:

Their gasbaggery last week over U.S. Sen. Patty Murray's conversation with a Vancouver, Wash., high-school class was all spin and distortion.
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Fact is, Murray's information about bin Laden is right.

I guess they don't keep up with current events over at the Times either. Don't spill the Kool Aid while you're chugging it, people! Rating: one candy cane.

Finally the Washington Post grandly weighs in with Inept but Entitled to Her Say:

Sen. Murray's (D-Wash.) crime, it seems, was to make an ill-worded and rather silly speech last week to a high school in Vancouver, Wash....

Nevertheless, there is a deeper point that Sen. Murray, with extraordinary ineptitude, seemed to be trying to make -- a point that is worth preserving: At the very least, it ought to be possible to discuss America's image in the Islamic world, and the kinds of mistakes the United States has made there.

Nice try, guys! It is possible to discuss it and it goes on all the time. It's just that it's a little tough to discuss it with Patty while she has a lip lock on Osama bin Laden. Rating: one half lump.

So to net it out: Patty got 2 lumps and a candy cane. Not a bad haul and a whole lot less than the coal train she deserved. And the blithering idiot defense may work for Patty. Since the Kumbaya school of foreign policy sounds like that to most people, she could get away with it.