Having promised "update" of Feb. column predicting Bush "comeback," David Broder did not mention it

[NNN0LHI]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200705070006?f=h_latest

During a May 4 washingtonpost.com online chat, Washington Post columnist David Broder told readers that his then-upcoming May 6 column would be his "best effort at an update" to his February 16 column in which he asserted that President Bush was "poised for a political comeback." In his May 6 column, titled "A War the Public Will End," Broder did not in any way address his assertion that Bush had been "poised for a comeback," much less note that the predicted comeback did not occur. Rather, in that column, Broder took the position that Bush has a short-term advantage over Democrats on Iraq because Bush "has a clear plan" for the war strategy, whereas "{t}he Democratic-controlled Congress ... lacks agreement on any such plan." Broder asserted that Bush's "high-risk policy" of "apply{ing} more military force in and around Baghdad in hopes of suppressing the sectarian violence and creating space for the Iraqi politicians to assemble a functioning government," had "no guarantee of success. But it is a clear strategy."

Yet, to make this argument of a short-term advantage for Bush, Broder shifted, without explanation, his characterization of the likelihood of success of Bush's "strategy." As Media Matters for America has noted, Broder stated on April 30 that it "is really doubtful" Bush's "effort to try to salvage something that would look like a victory in Iraq" is "achievable." Broder added that Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, "probably has until August or September to produce something that would be tangible. If he can do it, that would be wonderful, but I think the odds are against him." Broder reaffirmed this belief during the same May 4 online chat, in which he stated that his May 6 column was intended as his "best effort at an update" of his February 16 column. In the chat, Broder stated that it was "highly improable " that the "the new tactiucs in Baghdad" would yield a successful result. But now, in "updat" his February 16 column, he has shifted his assessment of the likelihood of success of Bush's strategy, from highly improbable to the more optimistic "no{t} guarantee{d}."

From Broder's February 16 column:

It may seem perverse to suggest that, at the very moment the House of Representatives is repudiating his policy in Iraq, President Bush is poised for a political comeback. But don't be astonished if that is the case.