Hillary's New Friends?

" David Asman, Fox News, April 9, 2003 (upon the toppling of Saddam's statue in Firdos Square, where tight shots by the cameras masked the fact that the crowd barely filled one quarter of the plaza): 'My goose bumps have never been higher than they are right now.'

"Brit Hume, Fox News, same time: 'This transcends anything I've ever seen.'

" Dick Morris, Fox News, April 9, 2003: 'Over the next couple of weeks, when we find the chemical weapons this guy was amassing . . . the left is going to have to hang its head for three or four more years.'

" Fred Barnes, Fox News, April 10, 2003: 'The war was the hard part . . . And it gets easier. I mean, setting up a democracy is hard, but not as hard as winning a war.'

" David Broder, The Washington Post, reacting to the events of May 1: 'This president has learned how to move in a way that just conveys a great sense of authority and command.'

"Columnist Robert Novak: 'Could Joe Lieberman get into a jet pilot's jump suit and look credible?'

" Judy Miller of the New York Times, talking on CNN, March 19, 2003: According to 'a slew of information from defectors' and her other 'intelligence sources,' American troops would soon find the WMD sites; indeed, 'one person in Washington told me that the list could total more than 1,400 of those sites.' "

Nexis is sooo annoying.

Editor & Publisher looks at how the NYT covered things. This lead is rather striking:

"BAGHDAD, May 2 -- The Bush administration is planning to withdraw most United States combat forces from Iraq over the next several months and wants to shrink the American military presence to less than two divisions by the fall, senior allied officials said today."

Uh, right.

Time's Karen Tumulty looks in the mirror after last week's Bill Moyers special on the press and the war: