Talking Points as Journalism ...

President Shifts Argument, Catches Critics Off Guard

Sheesh, how many White House talking points can you cram into one article and call it news? Still, with a title such as the Post gives this article, ya know what really would have brought this full circle?

A single, solitary, lone, individual example of a "critic" being caught "off guard." Literally ... one. That's all it would have taken. But what do we have here?

By challenging Congress to immediately give the administration authority to try notorious al-Qaeda figures such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed by military commissions, he shifted the argument with Democratic critics of national security policies and competence. As Bush framed the choice, anyone against his proposal would be denying him necessary tools to protect American security.

His success in catching much of Washington by surprise showed that a president who polls show has his political back to the wall still has formidable tools: the ability to make well-timed course corrections on policy, dominate the news and shape the capital's agenda in the weeks before Election Day.

So who - in Washington - do they quote as being surprised? They quote a Bush speech excerpt. They quote a Dem pollster and Senator referring not to Bush's quest to have Congress approve the idea of trying al Qaeda slime in military tribunals, but instead over Bush's efforts to frame Iraq as Nazi Germany. Then they follow up that bit of "genius" writing by quoting this gem by Republican Senator Mitch McConnell: "The Democrats are trying to politicize the war on terror." Behold ... journamalism!

That's some kind of 'liberal media' the parrotocracy of the right tries to spin!

UPDATE: Another vantage point to look at the article as another entry in the "Bad, Not Biased" sweepstakes ... if Bush's request of Congress to approve his request to try al Qaeda terrorists in military tribunals "caught much of Washington by surprise," here's a very simple question: Who is it that controls both the House and Senate? Last I checked, it was Republicans. So why are they standing the way of George Bush's desire to "git tuff" all of the sudden? Maybe that bit of irony should have taken someone at the Washington Post by surprise.