Lying about lying

This week:

RUMSFELD: [I]t appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there.
McGovern: You said you knew where they were.
RUMSFELD: I did not. I said I knew where suspect sites were and we were ... just ... (crosstalk)
McGovern: You said you knew where they were Tikrit, Baghdad, northeast, south, west of there. Those are your words.
RUMSFELD: My words ... my words were that ... no, no, no wait a minute, wait a minute. Let him stay one second. Just a second.

March 30, 2003 on ABC interview:

RUMSFELD: It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

***

Now, it's nothing new that the Bushies just flat out deny saying things that they, in fact, said. But in this particular incident this week at an Atlanta conference, NBC News, for one, played lots of video of people being dragged out for calling Rumsfeld a liar. But NBC did not find it noteworthy to report that Rumsfeld is not only a liar but was actually lying right then and there.

I wonder if this a matter of culture not having caught up to technology. In pre-Internet days, Nixon-style officials could contradict themselves and bully the mainstream media to keep quiet. Now everybody has access to the transcripts and even the video.