If you "seriously believe she meant to say something else," you don't know Diane Feinstein...
I know that she is one of the worst Authoritarians in the United States government today. I know she wants to confiscate all guns --- ultimately.
However, for the sake of her own reputation among the people that SUPPORT HER, it is hard to imagine that she would make a comment so factually incorrect, that even her own SUPPORTERS are calling her a moron for.
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That being said, seeing that she issued no retraction of any sort, I must believe that she actually wants to PEDDLE this "metaphor" for Propaganda. If you say something enough, even a horrendous metaphor, it starts to internalize, the same way the media said the words "Terrorist; Iraq" back to back. Even though they never stated Iraq had anything to do with terrorism, they would report stories about terrorism, followed by a story about Iraq, in rapid succession, making people subconsciously associate Iraq and terrorism.
After a while, it became impossible to convince certain people that Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism, because the [falsely] recalled Iraq being terrorist from the media. Memories don't compile the same way information is compiled on a computer, and the government knows that. They know that [enough] people will memorize it wrong.
I can just see a few years from now, when people like my grandmother and my sister (20 years old) who are saying "Oh she meant it metaphorically ... blah blah" will eventually be saying "Yeah people shouldn't be allowed to HUNT humans."
So when you ask someone "what terrorists in 9/11 came from Iraq, and what involvement did Saddam Hussein ever have in 9/11?" they can't answer you, but they simply say "It was all over the news back then, I can't exactly recall," and they think you are the liar.
Five years from now "In which places was it legal to hunt humans?" Then they will reply "It was all over the news, even my Senator said it, I just can't recall exactly where or when." And they will once again think you are the liar and misinformed, making any discussion impossible.