Bernie Sanders may be a first-time presidential candidate, but he's proven to be quite adept when it comes to messaging. Looking back over the last several months, few instances come to mind of the Vermont independent committing a "gaffe" or having to apologize for a verbal slip-up.
Sanders campaign officials insisted, more than once, that there was nothing wrong with the senator's on-air comments. But yesterday afternoon, in comments to MSNBC's Kasie Hunt, Sanders backpedaled, clarifying his comments from a couple of days prior.
"That's not what I meant," Sanders told NBC News in an interview during his campaign swing through the first-in-the-nation primary state. "We're a week out in the election, and the Clinton people will try to spin these things." Pressed on whether he views the groups as "establishment," Sanders said: "No. They aren't. They're standing up and fighting the important fights that have to be fought." Sanders said he was specifically talking about the leadership of those groups and their endorsement decisions.
This should effectively wrap up the controversy, such as it was, though no one should be surprised if Team Clinton stokes these fires a little more.
Disclosure: My wife works for Planned Parenthood, but she had no role in this piece, and she was not involved in the group's endorsement process.