The Willful Ignorance Of Our Press Corps

I wish that our media elite wouldn't view evey RNC press release as completely accurate, but I guess that's asking too much. Democrats are being completely fair about Iraq in saying that there is a modicum of military progress in particular areas (although even that's a stretch, since this is the bloodiest summer of the war and the violence seems to just be shifting around the country). They're also saying that there's no political progress and that the Maliki government simply can't bring it about (not that any other leader in Iraq could either). Republicans take this and say "See! Democrats are saying there's progress ZOMG!!!!1!"

Stop it, stop it, stop it. There's a big difference between military progress and political progress. Namely that the only way a solution to the disaster of Iraq can be reached is through political progress. Period. And if there is none, after four and a half years, it's reasonable to wonder whether there can ever be given the current dynamic of occupation.

There's a lot of goalpost-moving going on and the media is having a hard time keeping up with the spin. The easy way is to focus on the political solution, because that's the only thing that can work.

Steve Benen has more.

UPDATE: By the way, the President of the United States agrees with this assessment. "Clearly, the Iraqi government's got to do more," he said. And he said only one aspect of the surge is working (the military/security perspective). He can't even spin this (he's spinning the military progress front, but not the political).