On July 19 Tony Snow said that Bush believed that stem cell research was "murder." On July 24, Snow (apparently the most incompetent press secretary in U.S. history) said, oops, I didn't mean to say that, I was "overstating the president's position."
As others have noted (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-elisberg/a-summer-snow-job-the-st_b_25779.html) what the hell is going on here? Is it possible that Snow could have inadvertently used the term murder? Did he not discuss this with the President, or anyone else who knew what passes for the President's mind on this subject?
My belief is that the whole thing was set up - Snow refers to stem cell research as murder, then pretends to have misrepresented the President's view.
Why? The original statement prompts the headline "President's spokesman says stem cell research is murder!" Yippee, go the conservatives. The liberals get all upset.
A few days later, Snow says he overstated the position, but note he did not say "Bush thinks stem cell research is not murder." That would have upset the right wing. Instead he says Bush "would not use that term." Really? Well, what term would he use? The story does not get reported.
The result? Bush got his message across to the right wing, and liberals can't accuse Bush of taking the patently absurd position that stem cell research is murder because Bush can deny ever having said it.
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