During multi-state electioneering flights today, where Mr Bu$h visited several hard-red states in a desperate effort to keep the states from electing Democratic Congresspeople who might vote to haul his ass in front of a judge there was a press gaggle on Air Force One:

[EXTRACT]

Q Tony, what about the editorials coming up at in the Times -- Military Times Newspapers -- Army, Air Force, Marines and so on?

MR. SNOW: A number of things. I mean, observation number one is everybody is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. And as a factual matter, the editorial -- which is a uniform editorial that I guess all the papers are being told to carried -- is just -- it's a shabby piece of work. I'll run through some of it for you.

The other important thing to note is this -- although these are Army Times and the Military Times, they're a Gannet publication. A lot of people are thinking, aha, what you have are a lot of military people in open revolt against the President, when, in fact, you've got a lot of Gannet editorial writers, which would be thoroughly consistent with USA Today and the rest of the Gannet chain, which I think, if memory serves, does not have a single strong conservative editorial page in the entire chain.

Hang on a second, I've got a printout of it, because I went through the thing. Give me a moment. The editorial, for one thing, makes the allegation that -- it says, "One rosy reassurance after another has been handed down by President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld." That's just flat not true. And what they do is they revert to cheesy old partisan talking points about "mission accomplished," which, as you recall, was referring to the mission of the USS Abraham Lincoln and the President, on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln, talked about a long, hard fight to come, and so on.

But maybe the worst is this, it says, "A new course of criticism is beginning to resonate. Active duty military leaders are starting to voice misgivings about the war's planning." It then goes on to site General John Abizaid completely out of context, when he said before Congress -- he said, "I believe the sectarian violence probably is as bad as I've seen it. It's possible that Iraq could move toward civil war."

The following month General Casey said -- let's see, a couple of things. First, he said that, "A, I think we can prevent a civil war. Secondly, things in a counter-insurgency environment, as you well know, take time to mature militarily and politically, and we're confident that with the measures we're taking now we can be successful."

General Casey also said recently, "The situation is hard, but Iraq is not a country that's awash in sectarian violence. I think it's important to remind people that 90 percent of the sectarian violence in Iraq takes place in about a 30-mile radius from the center of Baghdad, and, secondly, that 90 percent of all violence takes place in five provinces."

There is also the notion in here -- in this editorial -- let me get this a little neater, because I keep flipping back and forth. Here we go, sorry. Here's another one, "Despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition." Again, dramatically at odds with what we've been seeing on the ground in Iraq, especially with a unity government that is making aggressive moves toward tamping down sectarian violence and also building a sense of national unity -- yet, 12 million people vote.

So what you have in here is sort of a caricature -- just today, almost in direct defiance of what the editorial is asserting, you had militias going in -- you had Iraqi police going in and, according to one report, taking down 53 al Qaeda members. Now, that's precisely the sort of thing that we've been talking about from the beginning, which is training up and making battle capable not only the Iraq security forces, but also Iraqi police forces.

Ever the loyal Fox flack, Mr Snow’s first reaction to more bad news is to point out that the military Times papers are owned by Gannett. Aha! Another liberal conspiracy! Not a single conservative editorial page in the lot! (Memo to self: ditch the elitist snobbery about Ganett articles and the mandated 250 word length. Apparently they tell the truth.)

Of course we see that things are always taken out of context: Mr Bu$h being flown onto the USS Lincoln, 40 miles off San Diego, climbing out of a S-3 Viking which somehow mysteriously became a “fighter plane” when the MSM stenographers retold the story. I’ve been told the S-3, which is a plane dedicated to anti-submarine warfare is occasionally used as a VIP “trash hauler.” Perhaps one of our Naval officer readers can verify that claim?

Leaving aside the aside the Rove sock-puppet strutting around the flight deck with his sock-crotch, we can deal with Mr Snow’s claim that the “Mission Accomplished” banner meant nothing because Mr Bu$h promised a long hard fight. If that was so, I suppose the “Mission” wasn’t “Accomplished” so why the banner? Who do we believe? Our lying eyes or our lying ears?

Regarding GEN Casey’s comment about things maturing slowly in a counter-insurgency environment how would he know? How would we? We’re not practicing counter-insurgency warfare in Iraq. We’re conducting a well-organized, motivated, combative resistance to an illegal occupation. But we’re certainly not doing counter-insurgency, unless the Bu$h malAdministration claims of all those painted schools and hospitals are true, and apparently they’re not.

BAGHDAD -- A reconstruction contract for the building of 142 primary health centers across Iraq is running out of money, after two years and roughly $200 million, with no more than 20 clinics now expected to be completed, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says.

The contract, awarded to U.S. construction giant Parsons Inc. in the flush, early days of reconstruction in Iraq, was expected to lay the foundation of a modern health care system for the country, putting quality medical care within reach of all Iraqis.

Parsons, according to the Corps, will walk away from more than 120 clinics that on average are two-thirds finished. Auditors say the project serves as a warning for other U.S. reconstruction efforts due to be completed this year.

Mr Snow’s comment when asked about Mr Bu$h’s reaction to the editorials was to say he shrugged it off.

…[H]e understands what editorial writers sometimes do, and in this case, they're grandstanding. The notion that somehow, as the editorial says, that this is not intended to influence the elections -- you've got to be kidding me. I mean, if they didn't want it to influence the elections, they could have published it Wednesday.

As opposed to grandstanding around states that have been Republican for 20 years, demonizing his political opponents, which, come to think of it, could have been done last week.

Mr Snow was asked about the scheduled death penalty for Saddam Hussein that’s supposed to be announced tomorrow

Q And is there going to be any sort of response to the Saddam trial tomorrow? Are you planning anything on that?

MR. SNOW: I don't know. We'll let you know if and when we have a response. I think the most important thing to note right now, even before, is that Iraq has an independent judiciary. We talking about an Iraq that can sustain, defend and govern itself, and you see -- we've seen progress when it comes on the military side, not only the Iraqi security forces -- this very important police operation today [a report of a gun battle between Iraqi police and “insurgents” with a reported 53 dead insurgents] -- but also an independent judiciary. These are things that are absolutely vital to building a democracy that will not only sustain itself, but have the faith and support of the populous. So that's what I can say about it right now, in absence of any verdict.

So, if the Iraqi central government can “sustain, defend and govern itself” when are the troops coming home?