(Updated) Dem. Congressman Fails to Clarify 'I Think the Constitution is Wrong

(Editor's note: the Congressman's office has responded to The Blaze's original story. See that response at the bottom.)

Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) may have minced words when defining his stance on campaign finance reform. Or if not, that may be the only way to stomach his shocking statement about the Constitution.

During a recent debate with his challenger Marty Lamb, McGovern began explaining that the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision is inappropriate. During that explanation, he made the statement "I think the Constitution is wrong":

We have a lousy Supreme Court decision that has opened the floodgates, and so we have to deal within the realm of constitutionality. And a lot of the campaign finance bills that we have passed have been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. I think the Constitution is wrong. I don’t think that money is the same thing as human beings.

To be fair, McGovern could have just tripped over his words. The conversation centered on the Supreme Court and he might have mistakenly said "Constitution" instead of "Court." But when given the opportunity to clarify his statement, he punted. In an exchange with an apparent audience member, McGovern denies ever making the claim:

(H/T: Stephen Gutowski)

"I’m sorry I blew your mind but I didn’t say that the Constitution was wrong," he told the audience member. "I said that the interpretation by my friend here was wrong."

Calls to the Congressman's office requesting comment were not immediately returned.

UPDATE:

Michael Mershown, Congressman McGovern's press secretary, called back and said that the comment was simply a slip of the tongue: "He meant to say that he disagreed with the court decision [Citizens United], and instead said he disgreed with the Constitution." When asked why the Congressman denied the comment, McGovern said the Congressman at the time did not realize he had made the mistake.

McGovern's campaign also e-mailed to provide a comment from the Congressman:

"Last night, I had a slip of the tongue. While answering a question about the awful Supreme Court campaign finance decision, I used the word 'Constitution' rather than 'Court Decision.'"