After reading Occupy D.C.’s long and cranky letter about recent Post coverage of the movement and “breathless” tweets by staff writer Tim Craig as he walked through the McPherson Square site, I checked in with Craig to see if he had a response.

While the letter complains about Craig’s language and questions his objectivity in describing chalk markings on the statue of  James B. McPherson, Craig says the comments stemmed from his belief that “the public deserved to know about what was happening at that moment.”

He says he will take up the question of whether the tweets were out of line with his editors. In one, he wrote that the chalk drawings were “messy, disrespectful actions.”

But, Craig says, “I’m also a citizen of the District of Columbia—-it’s a national statue and I believe it was defaced, and people walking through that park saw a defaced statue.”

And he is right on that point: Marking the 135-year-old statue is prohibited by park rules.