Trying to Spin the Truth Away

And rather than being a harbinger of things to come, it turns out the jump was a total outlier. Since then, a CBS poll found Bush's approval rating at 36 percent, with no uptick on the terror issue. A Gallup Poll found approval at 37 percent. And yesterday, a Zogby poll found Bush's job approval at 34 percent.

Setting the Record Straight?

Deb Riechmann writes for the Associated Press about Snow's enthusiastic adoption -- particularly when Bush's approval ratings are down -- of a shoot-the messenger strategy.

"Bush officials say their ' Setting the Record Straight ' memos, which dispute passages in stories aired and printed about the president, are about seeking the truth. Democrats and other targets of the memos say they're more about spin than rebuttal."

Sadly, Riechmann doesn't actually fact-check those memos, leaving it to the reader to decide who to believe.

She also reports: "The administration is hoping the targeted reporter will feel scolded and adapt in a way that pleases the White House and get other reporters to self-censor their stories and broadcasts to avoid being singled out."

But she doesn't say whether it's working.

Bush in His Own Words

Bush spoke, apparently extemporaneously , at a fundraiser for Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann last night.

Jim Rutenberg writes in the New York Times: "President Bush on Wednesday picked up his party's attack against Democrats for having what the Republicans have called the wrong approach to the fight against terrorism. But his was a kinder, gentler approach than the one used by Vice President Dick Cheney and others in recent days.

"Referring to the war in Iraq, Mr. Bush said: 'There's some good people in our country who believe we should cut and run. They're not bad people when they say that, they're decent people.'

"But he added, 'I just happen to believe they're wrong, and they're wrong for this reason: this would be a defeat for the United States in a key battleground in the global war on terror.' "

Bush also expanded on how he sees the geopolitical stakes of a defeat in Iraq -- or at least how we wants others to see them.

"This would be a defeat for the United States in a key battleground in the global war on terror. It would create a -- leaving before we complete our mission would create a terrorist state in the heart of the Middle East, a country with huge oil reserves that the terrorist network would be willing to use to extract economic pain from those of us who believe in freedom.