Conservative Catfight Over DeMint Quote

As LL mentioned in this morning's Daily, the Washington Times' Timothy Warren reported this morning that Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) had said at a voucher press conference, "If you send a kid to [public] school in D.C., chances are that they will end up in a gang rather than graduating."

Moments ago, LL received an e-mail from a DeMint aide, who says, "The Washington Times completely misreported Senator DeMint's comments, leaving out the opening of his statement that he was told this by a DC parent. As the New York Post points out here, Senator DeMint was simply quoting from a mother who said those words to him this week, that she was concerned her child was likely to end up in a gang instead of graduating if forced out of the scholarship program."

The quote as reported by the NYP reporter: "Parents tell us...if they are sending their kids off to public schools, the chances are very good that they are going to end up in a gang rather than graduating high school."

LL did not attend the press conference and has thus far not been able to locate a recording, so he cannot independently judge who's on the side of the angels here.

Here's the question: Does the preface attenuate the shock value of DeMint's quote? It definitely seems to indicate that DeMint knew it was shocking.