The White House Responds

Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesperson, responds to this post about Ed Gillespie's gaggle.

"You should read the rest of the gaggle. That wasn’t Ed’s point. He later explained that the language wasn’t geared toward any one person."

Stanzel points me to something Gillespie said a little later:

Q So when the question of a possible rebuke to Carter came up, was the language changed, what was the discussion, what was the analysis of what might be --

MR. GILLESPIE: The -- it was put in the context of a broader discussion of approach and policy, so that it would not be seen as a reference to any individual.

Here's the first part of the quote:

"We did not anticipate that it would be taken that way, because its kind of hard to take it that way when you look at the actual words. ... There was some anticipation that someone might say you know its an expression of rebuke to former President Carter for having met with Hamas. that was something that was anticipated but no one wrote about it or raised it."

What do you think?