Jon Kyl Now Says He 'Misspoke' On Planned Parenthood So Everyone Should Please Stop Making Fun Of Him

Last week, Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) received a fusillade of criticism when he took to the Senate floor to declare that abortion was "well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does." That criticism soon turned to ridicule after his office responded by releasing a statement that said that "his remark was not intended to be a factual statement." Everyone has been making fun of him on Twitter and on late night comedy shows, and it really hurt his feelings. So now, Kyl is "clarifying" himself once again.

Asked if he regretted the flap, Kyl said Thursday: "I misspoke when I said what I said on the floor - and I said so."

But what about the claim that it was "not intended to be a factual statement" when Kyl said 90 percent of Planned Parenthood's services were abortion related?

"That was not me - that was my press person," he said.

Got it. See, when Jon Kyl said a bunch of things that were not true, he obviously had some sort of malfunction in the speech center of his brain. Clearly, what he meant to say was "Three percent of Planned Parenthood's activities are related to abortion, and now that I'm saying this out loud, I forget why I was making such a big deal about it in the first place, so I yield the floor." But an episode of some kind of dysphasia caused him to form entirely different syllables, so while it looked to the world like he was absolutely speaking with perfect clarity of voice and thought, it was all really just a mangled mistake. That observers couldn't see that he was misspeaking is just a terrible coincidence.

Oh, and then some idiot -- "my press person" -- said some even dumber things to CNN, but why was anyone in the news taking the things Jon Kyl's "press person" says seriously, as if his "press person" was somehow authorized to speak to the press, on Jon Kyl's behalf?

So, really, this was everyone else's fault.

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Comments

[Forrester1]

09:49 PM on 06/01/2011

I see 2 options:
1) He's a complete liar because he knew the truth and deliberately falsified information during a Congressional debate.
2) He's an ignorant parrot reciting a preplanned talk on which he failled to verify the facts.

1) = GOP
2) = pparty

[ScentOpine]

12:23 PM on 04/22/2011

A lie to cover up the lie. That's what our politicians do best - constructing lies and deception.

If anything good gets done by these weasels, it is unintentional.

[Forrester1]

09:51 PM on 06/01/2011

Don't worry, the Congressional "record" will clean up his speech.

[madrediterra]

02:58 PM on 04/20/2011

I looked it up. "Misspoke" is not the correct description for falsifying statistics and lying about the main function of an organization on the Senate floor.

mis·speak –verb (used with object)
1. to speak, utter, or pronounce incorrectly.
2. to speak inaccurately, inappropriately, or too hastily.

[AG creative]

02:01 PM on 04/20/2011

"That was not me - that was my press person" is an absolute cop-out. I can't believe the lack of accountability in this country.

[Alex Croley]

01:13 PM on 04/20/2011

I started laughing at you Sen. Kyl when you misspoke yourself, you made such an outlandish accusation based on myth, and being only 87% off from your figures. I laughed even harder when you changed the congressional records so that you can 'cover yourself' when it comes to someone challenging you... the only problem is that your on tape saying it duffus.

[DallasMike]

02:02 PM on 04/19/2011

The left lie all the time, but no one calls them on it.

[Basil08]

09:39 AM on 04/22/2011

Go ahead with your examples...

[Quentin James Brown]

01:08 PM on 04/19/2011

Thank you Mr. Linkins. I finally now understand what misspeaking is: an electrical storm in the speech centers of prominent people’s brains, resulting in coherent sentences with no factual basis. And resulting in regret and hurt feelings :-(

[Justdontgetit]

07:21 PM on 04/18/2011

He was lying.

He is lying.

He is a liar.

[notfactuals]

08:46 AM on 04/18/2011

Yeah, there's even more (statements intended to be factual but not) at http://www.notintendedtobeafactualstatement.com

[southingtonian]

02:22 AM on 04/18/2011

Speaking for myself, I will not let it go, nor any other BS, no matter who it comes from.

[trumphent]

07:02 PM on 04/17/2011

Senator, your pathetic attempt of an apology is unconditionally rejected.

[ahjuci]

05:37 PM on 04/17/2011

You mis-spoke on the Senate floor ?

Right this mis-speaking with a Public Apology on the Senate floor, NO LESS.

[AG creative]

02:02 PM on 04/20/2011

He 'misspoke' then he pulled a coward move & had hit 'press person' make up a response.

Travesty.

[nowme]

05:34 PM on 04/17/2011

He said it. It's out there. It's fact in many minds. Shrewd?

[JoeBoy254]

04:59 PM on 04/17/2011

Most everything that has recently come out of Kyl's mouth has been either a lie or Republican double talk.

[RED BONE]

04:53 PM on 04/17/2011

Kyle, you lied then and you are lying now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!