Yes, the more I read it, the more I think that that the intent of the law (that is, the intent of the people who wrote it) was for everyone to get subsidies but that the law was written in a such a way as to basically blackmail states to get in line and set up their own exchanges. When that did not happen (that is, when the refusing states banded together and believed they could sink the legislation by doing so), the IRS interpreted it the way they saw fit to make the original intent of the law be in effect.

The more I read it, the more it appears that this is an example of the Democrats having it both ways. The backpedaling sounds like a way of avoiding saying as much.