This afternoon, Neil Cavuto asked Mitch Daniels why he suddenly seems to have taken a harder line on Indiana legislators who fled the state.
CAVUTO: Governor, maybe you can clarify some things for me, sir, because there have been some critics of yours who've said "Well, we don't quite know where Mitch Daniels is coming from."
Specifically, on this issue of Democrats bolting the state. You had said at the time, I believe: "This is a perfectly legitimate part of the process."
Did you say that? Because it sounds like what you say now is different.
DANIELS: Well, they can be forgiven, because I was a little careless with my words. Most people understood exactly what I meant. What I said was legitimate was the protests by union members and others out in the capitol of our state.
I was just simply saying they were within their First Amendment rights. I have always said what the Democrats did -- walking off the job, taking taxpayer dollars over to a swimming pool in Illinois -- was unacceptable and outrageous and embarrassing.
But there was one news story in which those two things were confused, and I'll take the responsibility for not being clearer about my pronoun.
(ea) Originally, Daniels had said the Democrats' flight was a "legitimate part of the process", but soon thereafter, claimed he was misinterpreted and that he was referring to pro-union protesters and not fleeing legislators.
Jonathan Martin has a great read on the possible presidential politics surrounding Daniels' shift in rhetoric -- if, indeed, it is a deliberate shift, or just a misunderstanding, as Daniels claims.
