After misquoting President Obama in an interview with GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney last week, Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy this morning addressed the fabrication, stating that he “did some paraphrasing that seemed to misquote the president.” From today's Fox & Friends:
DOOCY: Last week, President Obama talked about not being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. That was interpreted as a big dig at Mitt Romney. When I was interviewing Governor Romney on this show, I asked him about it. However, I did some paraphrasing that seemed to misquote the president. So to be clear, the president's exact quote was, “I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.” And I hope that clears up any confusion.
In the original segment, Doocy said to Romney: “Speaking of rhetoric, [President Obama] had some fiery rhetoric pointed at you yesterday. He said, 'Unlike some people, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.'” But as several outlets pointed out, Obama never said “unlike some people,” which would have undermined Doocy's claim that the comment was “fiery rhetoric pointed at” Romney.
During his clarification this morning, Doocy did not explain what part of the quote was fabricated and that including the phrase “unlike some people” may have contributed to Obama's comment being “interpreted as a big dig at Mitt Romney.” As Washington Post media blogger Erik Wemple wrote of Doocy's misquote: “Romney gobbled it all up, saying, among other things, 'I know the president likes to attack fellow Americans.'”
Doocy's misquote of Obama also spread to the mainstream media. A Washington Post blog post and a New York Post editorial each included Doocy's misquote. Both outlets later issued corrections.