Spin the numbers
: Yesterday, I noted that the BBC — even the BBC — found and lead with positive notes from a poll it took in Iraq: “The poll suggests that Iraqis are happier than they were before the invasion, optimistic about the future and opposed to violence.”
The New York Times reported on the same poll this way: “Ambivalence From Iraqis in Poll on War.”
Spin.
: Wednesday, The Times reports more polling from its glass-half-empty perspective.
In some predominantly Muslim countries, where negative attitudes toward American policy have prevailed for years, disapproval of the United States persisted over the past year, although at a less intense level that Mr. Kohut described as anger rather than hatred.
Still, the survey found, people in Jordan, Pakistan and Morocco tended to view other outsiders with almost the same degree of ill will and distrust as they did the United States.
Well, gee, couldn’t one also say that this year of all years, following the war in Iraq, isn’t it amazing that Muslim countries’ attitudes toward America improved?
