Quoting Bill Clinton

The WSJ has a funny story this morning about Bill Clinton's exchange in Pennsylvania yesterday. Clinton tried to get a dig in on Senator Obama by claiming that Obama had played "the race card" earlier in the week but on Tuesday he was asked by an NBC reporter about his comment and he responded testily -

"No,no, no. That's not what I said. You always follow me around and play these little games, and I am not going to play your games today. This is a day about Election Day. Go back and see what the question was, and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it to get another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today. Have a nice day."

While the former president's comments seem clear, it might be helpful to annotate what he said. "No,no, no. That's not what I said. I was not that direct. You always follow me around and play these little games, like quoting me accurately, and I am not going to play your games today, because I already scored the points yesterday. This is a day about Election Day. (Don't you know about Scarlett O'Hara - this is today and that was yesterday and "tomorrow is another day.") Go back and see what the question was, and what my answer was I know you have the tape and the transcript but the rest of the people do not. You have mischaracterized it (my underhanded attack on Obama) to get another cheap story (which is different from the cheap shot I attempted) to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us (like whether or not I can get back to running the country), and I choose not to play your game today (of course when I think it will advantage the campaign I will bring the concept of parsing to new levels. Have you no knowledge of the nuances in meanings that I have attempted to foist on the American people?). Have a nice day(stuff it!)."