I agree with Julian Sanchez that one Sunday morning when Cheney told Tim Russert, "We believe [Saddam Hussein] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons" that, in context, it was clear he was referring to weapons programs and not actual weapons. And, so, to go nuclear, so to speak, on Cheney because of this comment isn't entirely fair.
However, there is an additional bit of context which is missing from this analysis. Following his appearance on Meet the Press on March 16, 2003, how long did it take him to correct the record even though many stories were written about this? He corrected the remark six full months later on a subsequent MTP appearance in September. I haven't been able to find any other evidence of a correction before this time.
Did Cheney accidentally misspeak? Probably. But, once it his statement was out there, and being repeated, did he make any attempt to correct it? As far as I can tell, no.
