That Darn Liberal Media

What does this AP headline mean to you?

Clinton: Democrats 'struggling' with Iraq
I imagine most people would read that and think that Senator Clinton, who has been hawkish on the war, was complaining that the Democrats are in disarray over Iraq, which is, of course, the conventional wisdom (with some basis in reality).

But here’s what she was really saying:

"Although unity is important it is not the most important value. It is, I think, a tribute to the Democratic Party at this moment in time that we are honestly and openly struggling with a lot of the difficult issues facing our country," Clinton, D-N.Y., told the New Democrat Network…

"I think we come out more united," said Clinton. "We're not blindly united like the other side is, where they are like the three monkeys, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak no Evil. They're not going to say anything negative about the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense or anybody else."

So, yes—technically Clinton did say that the Dems are “struggling” with Iraq, but the point she was making was a positive one, not a negative one, about the Democrats, which the headline does not suggest at all. In fact, it deliberately undermines the upshot of her opinion, which is that the GOP strategy is making the situation in Iraq worse.

Meanwhile, the AP story that reported Bush making these incredibly mendacious statement about the Dems—“It is important to have members of the United States Congress who will not raise the white flag of surrender in the war on terror” and “We're going to win the war on terror — if we don't lose our nerve”—was headlined Bush helps Republicans raise cash, as the story was framed by the where the statements were made, a fundraiser, rather than the content of what he said.

Our media well and truly sucks.