Things sometimes get said in unguarded moments on the campaign trail, especially by newbie candidates. Then it's up to the candidate's spokesman to clarify what was really meant.
Take Linda McMahon and her spokesman, Ed Patru.
Just yesterday Patru had to clarify a comment made by McMahon to a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter. McMahon indicated that the longterm effects of steroid use haven't thoroughly been studied. "They are continuing to study it more and more, but I don't believe there are a lot of studies out there today that are conclusive," McMahon told reporter Andrew Rice.
Within hours of the story hitting the web, Patru weighed in. "Linda clearly is opposed to illegal drug use,'' he told The Day's Ted Mann. "She believes steroid use can have long-term negative physical and psychiatric impact on the body, and those negative impacts obviously are exacerbated with abuse. Furthermore, she supports continuing research on the issue so that the public can better understand the full scope of impact long-term use has on the body. As for the WWE, it has a very clearly defined policy on all illegal drugs, which I'm sure you've read."
UPDATE: Patru takes issue with this entire blog post, starting with the headline. "What did Linda say in that Businessweek article that is at all inconsistent with what I said?'' he asked. "She said more research is needed on the issue...I elaborated because Ted Mann asked me to. Reporters routinely ask campaigns to elaborate, that's why we're here.''