hehe, this is fun...
thats fine, you can stand by it, but the fact is, he didnt. he spoke what he meant, and until someone decided to spin it, no one even noticed.There is no spin if I point out that the phrase, "I saw an airplane hit the tower" means, in grammatical terms, using standard english rules, that he saw---
hmmm...wait just a sec....I just realized something. Let's see, if I come across an auto accident aftermath, and I observe a car wrapped around a telephone poll, I could conceivably say, "I see a car hit that pole." And later on I could remark to a friend, "I saw a car hit the pole," as in I noticed that a car had hit the pole.
It's horrible structure, but it just may be a regional variation within this country. To me, it's completely wrong. Yet I can believe it may be regionally common in some places, and that would explain why some of us read that stament and took it one way, and others of us couldn't see this explanation until it was pointed out.
If someone is used to saying (incorrectly according to proper english usage) "I could care less," I'll call it wrong, for it is wrong. Yet it is regionally common in some places, and may seem correct to those who use it that way. In fact, if it catches on long enough and extensively enough, it becomes correct. That's english for ya!
What a strange trip this thread has been...