[FreeReign]

The WaPo cut the spokesman's comment off in mid sentence.

And we know this how? And please don't say because of the comma following the quote.

Of course I won't say that the comma followed the quoted, because the comma PRECEEDED the end quote.

As I said...

The WaPo cut the spokesman's comment off in mid sentence and it's this quote that is the basis of your point.

[wideawake]

That comma is the punctuation of the larger sentence - it does not indicate a partial quote.

As in:

"That comma is the punctuation of the larger sentence - it does not indicate a partial quote," wrote a FReeper named wide-awake.