"OOPS! I MEANT 'GERANIUMS'"

Just heard NPR's Ann Taylor (I think) describe the White House's concessions this week that the Niger uranium story was bogus and that the State of the Union address was flawed as a concession that Bush "misspoke."

Misspoke?

You don't fall into a "credibility gap" because you "misspoke." You don't go on the PR offensive, aggressively, because you "misspoke."

You "misspeak" when you say something you didn't intend to say, as in, when you tell your friend that his speech was "bombastic" when you meant "fantastic." The President was mistaken in claiming that there was evidence that Iraq was trying to obtain uranium from Niger. Depending on what the President knew, the statement was either an innocent error or an act of deception. Under "act of deception" you should also file the potential category: "act of willful ignorance."