There is one key difference between the two.
Plenty of people have disputed attempts by the left to say Bush linked 9/11 and Saddam because it clearly was an attempt by the left to warp what Bush had said.
No one that I know of has attempted to claim that, because Bush did not specifically mention the Minutemen in response to the question, that he was not referring to them. It so happens that the Minutemen were in the news big-time when this conference was happening, and the question was directed by a journalist in response to those stories. So rational people clearly belief that Bush was referring to the Minutemen.
In other words, in the context of the news that day about the Minutemen, it was clear who the subject was. And just in case it wasn't what Bush really meant at the time, McClellan was offered the opportunity to clarify at a press conference, as another poster had noted. McClellan declined to do so.
"No one that I know of has attempted to claim that, because Bush did not specifically mention the Minutemen in response to the question, that he was not referring to them"
Well you have now.
Think about this for a minute dirtboy OK.
W says what he is thinking. He does not pull punches. He does not beat around the bush. He does not speak between the lines as our former president does. He is straightforward and to the point about what he will do and why.
You are now saying that he is like this in every way on every issue EXCEPT this one time? Cmon now!
Or are you going to claim that he does speak between the lines as Clinton did? Which is it?
The question was about wether he supported the minutemen or not. Right? He answered with what he did not support....which is not what the minutemen are doing.
Again, what you claim needs clarified is a fabrication of inference not a direct quote. If you could produce where W said something other than he did at the time in question I would agree that something may need cleared up.
People say that W called the minutemen vigilantes all the time and when tasked all they can produce is the likes of what you produced. A quote where someone SAYS he said that.
Funny thing how the quote never seems to be produced to back up the claim that he said the minutemen are vigilantes.
If he had said they were vigilantes you would not be working so hard to prove that he did. It would be easy. You could simply post the words he said and the question that was asked instead of what people have said about what he said.