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Los Angeles Times: Petraeus' Report Is a Potential Minefield for Both Parties (9/11/07) by Noam N. Levey & Richard Simon
A creatively bad take on the media event of the week achieves "balance" only by assuming the U.S. public to be total idiots. In order to portray both major parties as potentially in need of "recalibrat[ing] their positions," Levey and Simon play congressional Democrats as at risk because Petraeus' call for a minor drawdown could steal their thunder:Democrats, who have been struggling all year to force President Bush to begin pulling troops out of Iraq, now face the prospect that he will agree with Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and do just that. The proposed drawdown would not be as fast or large as Democrats have wanted; it could undermine support for their push to order a major withdrawal.
It's difficult to see how the people would confuse continued occupation at pre-"surge" levels with the withdrawal from Iraq they'd like to see happen relatively soon--though media reports like this could certainly help.
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