Ripped from today's NYT headlines:
Clinton Says She Misspoke About Dodging Sniper Fire

Hmm. Misspoke. OK. I looked that word up, just in case it had changed meaning since I last checked into it. Here's what it said:
mis·speak
1. to speak, utter, or pronounce incorrectly.
2. to speak inaccurately, inappropriately, or too hastily.

Here's another word I looked up. Note the similarity:
lie
1. a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood.
2. something intended or serving to convey a false impression; imposture.
3. an inaccurate or false statement.
4. the charge or accusation of lying.

A lawyer would distinguish between these two terms by beating to death the idea of intent behind what Mrs. Clinton said, because the first definition doesn't mention intent while the second one does. Normal people wouldn't, but let's go with the lawyer mode for a moment.

If the intent was in fact to deceive, which it was, why are we calling this misspeaking instead of outright lying in the first place?


Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/politics/25clinton.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/misspoke
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lie