How can he backpedal when he wasn't pedalling?

A Tom Ridge simulacrum?

Or, what happens when the press doesn't check original sources:

So it has gone with the story of Tom Ridge's assertion. He made a statement. His publisher summarized the statement, distorting it slightly. The press distorted the statement further. The press began talking to itself about the distortion. And then the original statement, which Ridge had put down in the book and remained unchanged, ceased to exist. His statement was replaced by a popular simulacrum: All that remained was the distortion of what Ridge said in his book. The original statement was gone. And so, we have big news today: Ridge Backpedals!!!