"Fox & Friends" host Steve Doocy admitted on Tuesday that he "did some paraphrasing" when he misquoted President Barack Obama during an interview with Mitt Romney last week.
"Last week President Obama talked about not being born with a silver spoon in his mouth," Doocy told viewers. "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."
Last Thursday, Doocy asked Romney to respond to Obama's comment, quoting the president as saying, "Unlike some people, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth."
But according to the White House transcript, Obama's actual quote--during an April 18 speech at a community college in Elyria, Ohio--was:
"Somebody gave me an education. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Michelle wasn't. But somebody gave us a chance."
The Washington Post and the New York Post were among the outlets to confuse Doocy's paraphrasing as the president's actual words. They later corrected the reports.
On Monday, the Washington Post's Erik Wemple criticized both Doocy and Fox News for the misquote:
"[Doocy] might consider not only clarifying the real quote but also retracting the smirk that accompanies his false question," Wemple wrote. "It's the sort of signal, so often seen on Fox, that lets Republicans interviewees know they're welcome here."
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