False Washington Post Headline Says Dem Push On Iraq Is "On Hold"
September 19, 2007 -- 11:51 AM EST // //
As this blog has frequently noted, one of the more puzzling things you see at your big news orgs is this odd eagerness to report that Congressional Dem leaders have retreated on Iraq -- even if they haven't, and even if they are actively planning to do just the opposite.
Today, for instance, someone at The Washington Post was so eager to report the story this way that he or she wrote a false headline saying this was the case -- even though reporting elsewhere in the same edition of the paper said that just the opposite was the case. Here's the hed:
Both of those assertions are outright false. What actually happened yesterday is that Harry Reid said that Dems were dropping the idea of trying to reach a bipartisan compromise on a bill without withdrawal timelines.
This was magically transformed by WaPo's headline writers into the idea that Dems were putting all their efforts to halt the war in general on hold. And the subhed reinforced this idea, saying that such efforts were set to start happening again this coming spring.
Both false. What Reid actually said yesterday was that votes with binding measures are in fact being developed right now. The WaPo article itself said this, though it downplayed it, and so did another piece in the same paper.
And here's how the Associated Press accurately reported on what Reid is doing:
The Democratic leader said he will call for a vote this month on several anti-war proposals, including one by Sen. Carl Levin that would insist President Bush end U.S. combat next summer. The proposals would be mandatory and not leave Bush wiggle room, said Reid, D-Nev."This month" obviously isn't next spring, unless I've been asleep under a tree for around seven months without realizing it.
But presto -- the magic WaPo headline wand effortlessly transformed this into yet another instance of Dems caving.
Update: Taylor Marsh nailed this one first.