On spinning the vote

Joshua Keating has a wonderful piece in Foreign Policy online about how the media will spin this weekend's vote on ObamaCare. If Nancy Pelosi succeeds in kicking it through the Congressional door (see below), not only will the government have claimed a fresh new slice of our earnings and our lives, but the punditocracy will have a fresh new "narrative" about the world. 

To stick to the subject of this blog, here's how Mr. Keating sees the media story on Iraq if the bill passes: "The withdrawal of U.S. troops continues on schedule, violence is way down, Iraq's sectarian conflicts are being worked out in Parliament rather than in the streets, David Petraeus is the greatest U.S. miltary commander since George Washington." And if ObamaCare fails? No problem! "The election was marred by fraud, none of the major political disputes have been resolved, the insurgency is biding its time, the U.S. military faces a choice between remaining in Iraq for decades or watching a sectarian bloodbath erupt as it pulls out."

And so it is for Gitmo, global warming, Rahm Emanuel, and other issues of the day--though not a word about Mr. Obama himself. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford