Is Gordon a moron?

So, Gordon made a boo-boo. After speaking with an elderly lady who criticised, amongst other things, his policies on immigration, he returned the Brown-mobile. Unfortunately, he forgot that he was still wearing a Sky News radio mic and proceeded to generally moan about the encounter and called her a 'bigoted woman'. Gordon's only mistake here is that if he believed she was bigoted, he should have said that to her. By apologising for the incident he has only served to weaken his position in the election campaign. Is this another incident which proves telling the truth is not always the right thing to do? If he believed her to be bigoted, would it have done him any favours to tell her so? I can't believe politicians allow themselves to be manipulated in this way (the wearing of radio mics) by News International. I mean, it's not like they have a history of bias and underhand dealings is it?