Ah, the old 'My words were taken out of context' excuse, so beloved of politicians; and those of the right-wing, nine times out of ten, I always find...!
Certainly in places/situations where they know they're 'preaching to the converted', where they think they're in safe territory, and what they come out with - without the neural filter of Political Correctness switched on - they won't be called out on (because they know everyone present is 'singing from the same hymn sheet'). Somehow forgetting that devices called digital audio recorders exist (I have one, made by Olympus. Superb little gadget it is, with built-in USB connection to any computer for file transfers & thus conversion to MP3s, and linked via input/output cables to any audio system, it makes tape obsolete; very sensitive microphones it has, too).
Dunno about those in the US, but politicians here in the UK learned - even before the invention of digital audio recorders, smaller than the microcassette tape recorders (dictaphones) that existed then - 'There is no such thing as "This is strictly off the record...!"'.
'Walls have ears', as the old saying goes. And eyes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=iovMrP0Vctk
The MD 80. The world's smallest (Micro-SD-based) digital camcorder. Extremely small, as you can see. And can a politician expect to have all his attendees thoroughly frisked, a la a police strip-search, and maintain his credibility...?!
Moral: 'Misrepresentation', my left bollock. If you - especially a politician - say it that way, you mean it that way. And you don't have the right to think about having the right to 'spin' (i.e. Damage Control) your way out of it, neither.
Otherwise, you're such a loss to the diplomatic corps [/hyper-sarcasm]. And you GOP arselickers & bum-chums, get a room, if you want to rim Mitt the Shit.