White House Says NBC Distorted Bush Response

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said that while the administration often criticizes media coverage, it felt that the NBC report "was particularly egregious."

Gillespie and other aides have denied that the speech was aimed at Obama and have characterized Bush's remarks as a restatement of long-standing policies. They have also said there is no gap between Bush and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who said May 14 that the United States needs to "develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with" Iran.

The main point of contention with NBC was a question from Engel: "You said that negotiating with Iran is pointless and then you went further. You're saying -- you said that it was appeasement. Were you referring to Senator Barack Obama? He certainly thought you were."

On the segment aired yesterday, Bush is shown responding: "You know, my policies haven't changed, but evidently the political calendar has." But that was just part of a longer answer that included Bush telling Engel, "You didn't get it exactly right, either," and noting that he was talking about al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and Hamas as well as Iran.

Gillespie also used the letter to complain about other aspects of NBC News coverage and to lodge a complaint about "blatant partisan talk show hosts like Christopher Matthews and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC," both of whom have come under attack from Republicans.

Capus, the NBC News president, said in a written response that Gillespie's criticisms were "a gross misrepresentation of the facts," adding that the full Bush interview has been on NBC's Web site since Sunday.

Slevin reported from Chicago. Staff writers Perry Bacon Jr. in Prestonsburg, Ky.; Howard Kurtz in Washington; and Matthew Mosk in Billings, Mont., contributed to this report.