Reporters are endlessly getting upset with editors since editors invariably write the headlines that characterize their pieces. But clearly something has changed since I’ve been out of town because now apparently the sitting administration gets to write its own headlines, at least on the news wires.
The Post and the Times actually do reasonably well on this with “Bush Condemns All Ads By Independent Groups” and “Bush Urges End to Attack Ads by Outside Groups on All Sides”, respectively.
But check these out …
MSNBC: “Bush: Vets should halt anti-Kerry ads.”
Yahoo News: “Bush Criticizes Anti-Kerry Television Ad.”
Reuters: “Bush says Kerry ad should stop”
He said no such thing. As we noted earlier, he ducked the question, saying it’s only a matter of independent expenditure ads — a ‘position’ which happens not even to be his, which is a bit of a hat-trick in itself.
As we noted earlier, if someone asks me to denounce Joseph Stalin and I say, “I’m against all politicians who support the death penalty” then I haven’t denounced Joseph Stalin. Or perhaps the better analogy is to pro-life zealots who refuse to denounce the murder of abortion providers directly, preferring instead to equate abortion with the shooting of those who administer them.
