Rovian Kabuki

Karl Rove popped up at the American Enterprise Institute today (was he giving a farewell address?), and he had this to say:

"Look, we're in a sour time. I readily admit it. To be in the middle of a war where people turn on their television set and see people dying is not something that makes people happy and optimistic and upbeat. I heard the same kind of language about the 2004 election."

Since when? There are published reports of Iraq casualties, but I consume a lot of news, and I don't remember the last time I saw a dead or even wounded body from Baghdad. They won't even allow the flag-draped coffins to be photographed.

I hear Rove and Bush say this a lot (after all, they share the same speechwriter, namely Rove). This is misdirection. The Iraq war isn't seen as a failure because of the broadcast media (and that's the implicit charge here), it's seen as a failure because of the facts: the death toll, the lack of reconstruction, the sectarian strife, the weakness of the central government.