WTF Is It Now?!?

Declaration of war?
"The anchors and White House reporters for the national networks weren't too pleased by President Bush trying to go around them by conducting interviews on Monday with reporters from local affiliate station groups," the Media Research Center's Brent Baker reports.

CBS' John Roberts: 'It was the public relations equivalent of a declaration of war aimed at the national media, President Bush claiming the American people aren't getting the truth about Iraq.'

Roberts contrasted Bush's claims with reality: 'In interviews with regional television outlets today, which the White House feels will go easier on the president, Mr. Bush all but ignored the daily attacks on U.S. troops and personnel, instead telling Hearst-Argyle television the news about Iraq is good.'

Over on ABC's World News Tonight, Peter Jennings similarly contrasted the day's violence with Bush's claims: 'On a day when the Army confirmed that three more American soldiers had been killed, Mr. Bush said that the news media, and he meant the national news media, is too heavily focused on the violence.' Terry Moran called it a 'a rare outburst for a president who likes to cultivate friendly relations with some White House reporters.' " - -from the Moonie Times.

Lou, you ignorant slut
Journalists explain the facts of life to WH towelboy Lou Dobbs:

KAREN TUMULTY, TIME: "Well, I must say, I do find it ironic that the White House was not complaining about the national media when they were giving glowing coverage of our actual -- of our progress during the war itself.

"The fact is that the White House laid down some expectations of what this war would produce. They suggested we would be in and out of Iraq within three months. They suggested that the oil revenues would pay to fix the damage. None of that has happened. And so I think the media's doing its job, which is measuring them against what they, themselves, had promised."

TOM DEFRANK, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: "I just have to laugh. This is the eighth administration I've covered. And they all behave the same way when they get in trouble. The tendency is to blame the messenger, when maybe they ought to be looking a little harder at the message. So I'm not upset about it. This is the way they do.

"But it's very ironic to me that this is a White House that has not been particularly helpful to the press, and now they're jawboning the press. And I think they're a little over the top, but that's just the way they operate."