The Fox News All-Star Panel weighed in last night:
Honestly, I’m a little surprised that all the contributors assumed Obama didn’t mean it the way the McCain campaign has been spinning it — though Krauthammer does note that the audience certainly took it that way (they were not laughing uproariously about the cliche itself).
Personally, I find the Jim Lindgren/John Tabin theory of plausible deniability . . . well, plausible. Especially as, so far as I can tell, it was part of scripted remarks at the event, not in response to a question. No speechwriter who’s been paying attention would write that without knowing the implications.