A Rare Defense of the President (Sort of)

I hope the new-found skepticism of the news media regarding the Bush Administration doesn't turn into plain, old-fashioned piling on. In a recent teleconference between Dumbya and a group of soldiers in Iraq, AP slapped on this loaded headline: "Bush Thanks Soldiers in Rehearsed Talk."

Reporter Deb Reichmann, apparently having been born sometime within the last few days, recounts with dismay that -- heaven forbid! -- a deputy assistant defense secretary, Allison Barber, did a walk-through rehearsal about what soldier would field what question.

"'OK, so let's just walk through this,' Barber said. 'Captain Kennedy, you answer the first question and you hand the mike to whom?'

"'Captain Smith,' Kennedy said.

"'Captain. Smith? You take the mike and you hand it to whom?' she asked.

"'Captain Kennedy,' the soldier replied.

"And so it went.

"'If the question comes up about partnering — how often do we train with the Iraqi military — who does he go to?' Barber asked."

Blah, blah, blah.

The quickest way for the news media to return to its fearful, scaredy-cat coverage of the White House is to overplay its hand and get rightfully spanked by a scornful public. Headlines such as this are utter nonsense.