Ahhh ... the artful ways things are described. Just out from Dan Eggen at the Post ...

The White House retreated today from its claim that former counsel Harriet E. Miers first came up with the idea of firing U.S. attorneys, another apparent shift in the Bush administration's evolving version of events behind the controversy.

White House press secretary Tony Snow told reporters that it was no longer clear who first initiated the idea of dismissing a large number of the 93 federal prosecutors following the 2004 elections.

"It has been described as her idea but . . . I don't want to try to vouch for origination," Snow said, referring to Miers. "At this juncture, people have hazy memories."

Hazy memories. I'll bet.

At this point in the game, isn't the technical description for the status of this kind of false statement 'no longer operative.' Someone get Tony to brush up on his Watergate lexicon. Gonna be a bumpy ride.