Maureen Dowd misquotes Hillary on Obama

Maureen Dowd Sunday:

Hillary says Obama is “all hat and no cattle.” You’d think she’d want to avoid cattle metaphors, so as not to rile up those with a past beef about her sketchy windfall on cattle futures. She could simply say he’s all cage and no bird.

Via Bob Somerby, what Hillary actually said:

She slipped into a "you all" and criticized Bush, the former Texas governor.

"There's a great saying in Texas," she said, "all hat and no cattle. Well after seven years of George Bush, we need a lot less hat and lot more cattle."

It's all too reminiscent of her misquotation of President Bush as saying Al Qaeda is "not a problem anymore" back in 2003, which spawned a widespread media myth, or her distortion of a quote by Alberto Gonzales about the Geneva Conventions. Imagine if she hadn't been a reporter first!

(For more, see my previous posts about her on this blog and our coverage on Spinsanity.)

Comments

[Mo MoDo]

I wouldn't go so far as calling it a misquote as much as an interpretation. While the jab was directly aimed at Bush, the implication is that Hillary is saying she is the candidate of substance and not image. If that isn't a veiled attack on Obama, what is?

[David]

Mo MoDo's idea that Hillary's comment was a veiled shot at Obama makes sense to me. George Bush can be criticized for having the wrong policies, but not for a lack of policies.

However, IMHO that doesn't excuse MoDo's misattribution. She might have been OK if she had written, "Hillary implied Obama is 'all hat and no cattle.'” As it is, I think a correction is required.