If you're explaining you're losing.
Two more idiots who are probably on the Journolista list.
You just nailed it on the x-ring.
The fact that he’s now trying to split hairs in this lawyering fashion means he’s lost control of the issue. He can now try to explain his remarks at length, and only the twerps in the press will listen. The public has heard as much as they need to.
This is one of those issues that is so loaded, so emotionally charged, the public isn’t going to debate it. One wrong word and a pol is toast.
This is another one of these gaffes of Obama where he just could not resist opening his mouth, much like the Gates incident. There was no reason at all why he needed to comment on either issue, but he felt an urge to say something about a local issue, where he forgets that the whole of the US isn’t as lunatic left wing as Cambridge or Manhatten. Bloomberg might get away with supporting this mosque... A national pol will not.