ABC’s Raddatz Cues Up Reid on How to Blacken Petraeus

ABC’s Martha Raddatz is successfully briefing Senate Democrat leader Reid. In her September 5 report, Raddatz used clips from past interviews with Gen. David Petraeus to make her point that Petraeus, who has a reputation for telling it like it is, actually (in Raddatz’s words) “always manages to paint a hopeful picture.” She has him saying in 2004—when Petraeus was in Kirkuk—that he sees “the Kurdish governor and the Arab governor going out together," and in 2005, when he was training Iraqi forces, that “it’s great to see the determination of so many who were good partners when they were here.”

Raddatz was twisting Petraeus’ very innocent comments into words suggesting the war itself is going well. But Raddatz didn’t actually cross the line to falsehood, since all she actually said, with her flimsy evidence, was that Petraeus “always manages to paint a hopeful picture.”

Reid obviously watched Raddatz’s report. And, just as obviously, he decided to embellish it. Today, he said of Petraeus, “he’s made a number of statements over the years that have not proven to be factual.” That’s quite a leap from what Raddatz said, but “close enough for politics,” I guess.