Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? (Joe Klein Edition)

John Cole finds himself amazed by journamalist Joe Klein:

Balloon Juice: Joe Klein Makes No Sense By: John Cole: When I see that the President's polling numbers are stuck in the mid-30's, I scratch my head in disbelief when I read stuff like this:

Why Bush Is (Still) Winning the War at Home [by Joe Klein]: "I was up there in the cockpit of that airplane coming into Baghdad," the President told the press corps assembled on the White House lawn after his dash into and out of the war zone last week. "It was an unbelievable, unbelievable feeling." In fact, George W. Bush's body language--let's call it the full jaunty--was reminiscent of his last, infamous cockpit trip, onto the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 to announce the "end" of major combat operations in Iraq, beneath a mission accomplished sign. His public language is more cautious than it used to be, but he seemed downright frothy in a private session with the congressional leadership after his press conference.

He called the new Iraqi Defense Minister an "interesting cat" and Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the deceased al-Qaeda leader, "a dangerous dude." Bush had reason, finally, to strut. The al-Zarqawi raid had netted valuable intelligence data that were enabling U.S. and Iraqi forces to roll up al-Qaeda cells--the best haul since the capture of Saddam Hussein, which made it possible for U.S. forces to disable much of the dictator's inner circle in early 2004. What's more, the first elected Iraqi government was finally fully in place. Back home, Karl Rove was officially unindicted in the cia leak case, and the Democrats were busy being Democrat--divided, defensive and confused about the war, with Bush's favorite punching bag, Senator John Kerry, leading the charge.

Bottomed out in the polls, a government is finally in place months (years) after it should be, troops abducted, chaos everyday, and the White House is "celebrating" the fact that the President's closest advisor was not indicted.