First, a link - this piece by guest blogger Nitpicker over at Unclaimed Territory - which discusses what Pres. Bush did and did not say in his WaPo interview. While he cited the "not winning, not losing" quote, he did so in a way that, in his own words, he thought it "interesting", although he seemed to make clear that he did not think it was correct. Bush still sees victory as possible, even necessary, even though he never defines what victory would look like.
Fast-forward to today's news conference, and Tom Gjelten of NPR asked the President a question for which that supposed quote was the basis. So, we have a press corps incapable of understanding exactly what an article in the press actually said, and framing a discussion over something that was not said.
What made it worse was that a discussion on NPR with E. J. Dionne continued to discuss the whole question in this bizarre context - everyone continues to claim the President said something he demonstrably did not say - and thus the discourse becomes further and further removed from reality.
Bush would never admit we were not winning. What he said today is little different from what he has said in the past - it's tough, and it's going to get tougher, but victory is necessary and inevitable. He never said in the interview that he thinks we are neither winning nor losing. He didn't change his rhetoric today, or retract his statement, because there is nothing to retract. The whole exercise is some strange, incoherent nonsense that makes a mockery of the press and its role to inform the public. It is bad enough we have a President unwilling, or perhaps constitutionally incapable of dealing with the reality we are facing, militarily in Iraq or politically in America. We have a national press corps equally unable to understand the situation in Iraq or the radically different political context in which we now live. Rather than face the uncomfortable reality, they create easily digestible non-controversies in order to stay within a framework they understand. Not a single reporter asked the President whether or not, with a vast majority of the American people favoring withdrawal as soon as possible, and a recent election confirming this opinion, he thought it necessary to face the distinct possibility of withdrawal. Not one person asked the President if he was taking seriously the ISG report (except for a question to which everyone knew the answer concerning negotiations with Iraq and Syria).
Is it any wonder the political blogs are so popular?
Virtual Tin Cup
