No, Bush did not say that Nelson Mandela was dead

The mediots and the leftosphere jumped all over remarks made by the President which seemed to suggest that he mistakenly believed that Nelson Mandela was dead:

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader’s death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.

“It’s out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive,” Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush’s comments received worldwide coverage.

In a speech defending his administration’s Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern nation.

“I heard somebody say, Where’s Mandela?’ Well, Mandela’s dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas,” Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.

*sigh*

Yes, the President does indeed have a reputation for verbal faux pas, but it’s the media who are the masters of print faux pas, and this time around is no exception. James Taranto was one of many who called the media on their gaffe.

Tim Blair links up to some in the blogsphere who fell for it, and some who actually got it.

Memo to lefties and the MSM (but I repeat myself): It’s called a “metaphor,” geniuses.