Catch '06

Cass Sunstein counsels Democrats to keep reports of terrorist activity out of the news. And guess who just happens to have a near monopoly on the news media?

They've been telling us how things are getting worse in Iraq all the time, when actual statistics tell a different story. Now Sunstein tells the ixnay on the errortay. But if they don't tell it right, it could give the impression that Bush is successful.

The sad thing is that nobody really doubts the willingness of the press to tailor the news to favor the Democrats. Even pollsters seem to be distorting the prospects for the fall elections. Of course, the anti-war movement has always claimed more support than it really has, so when they lose, they turn to conspiracy theories to explain it, marginalizing themselves even further.

This is not a defense of the Republican Party, though. Maybe controlling Congress just corrupts people, or maybe they really don't believe their own principles. Either way, the only reason for conservatives to support incumbents is that they're not as bad as Democrats on national security, and that's a pretty lousy state of affairs. The Speaker claims that they haven't really overspent and that they've actually cut the requests, noting that it's the entitlements that are out of control. That's a lousy excuse, given their cowardice about supporting the modest reforms the President proposed. If the Democrats win this fall, they'll probably only assure a loss in 2008, but they can still do a lot of damage at a critical time.

In the meantime, factcheck their butts!