From what I have read, he was "dining" with half the reporters in D.C. trying to get them to write a story about his trip to Niger.
What I don't get is why he waited so long; if he was upset with the 16 words, why wait six months to write about it.
Maybe he was waiting for all those reporters to do the story for him and when it didn't work out that way, he came forward and praised himself.