On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:34:47 -0800 (PST),
"
wrote:


Polgar's repeated misuse of the phrase "conflict of interest", then
arguing about it after the misuse has been pointed out, is surprising.

I would give her a break on the first part of this one. She is a non-
native speaker, and I have even seen journalists confuse the
distinction between may be biased as opposed to having a conflict of
interest. She should, however, acknowledge that she made the wrong
choice of words.

Sure. "Conflict of interest" could easily be taken to mean "a
closed-minded interest in defending a past decision contrary to
evidence". It just seemed surprising that she didn't flash on the
possibility that the phrase had a more technical meaning (and use
Google to see what that meaning was) when the other party so obviously
boggled at the charge.