Bickering

N&O editors chose to run the following 1A header on President Bush's visit to Russia, "Bickering takes back seat." We have a president with the courage to go into areas formerly ruled by the Soviet Union (primarily the Baltic states) and in Reaganesque fashion call the occupation wrong.

But instead of writing "Bush's bold comments cause rift" or maybe "Confronting the Evil Empire's history," we get a headline about "bickering." This is a great example of how the paper spins any Bush victory into belittlement, and any Bush minor failure into tragedy.

You have to admit that if you were part of the MSM left, and you were aware of how segments of the media (start with Duranty and the NYT) failed to criticize the Stalin era, you would be a little gun-shy of the topic as well.