Quick clarification: it was unclear in our prior post, but the audio of the interview with Biden was actually made available by The New York Observer in response to questions about Biden’s phrasing.
Biden responds to The Politico about the quote firestorm here.
Late Update: For what it’s worth, Biden, when pressed, actually told reporters he believes he “was quoted accurately” in his interview. I think that just means that these are the words he spoke in the interview. His press folks are certainly wise enough to tell him not to get in an argument about commas if he doesn’t want to hop out of the fryinig pan into the fire. For our part, I stand on what I wrote below: The transcription of the interview was misleading when judged against the audio of what Biden actually said. The difference in punctuation was subtle but the difference in meaning was not. Transcriptions get put together quickly. And usually a comma added or omitted doesn’t make a big difference. But this wasn’t one of those times. It made a big difference. Listen to the audio and see whether you agree. — jmm
