That crazy liberal media are at it again...
ABC News has decided to serve as the Bush PR front. Josh Marshall points, today, to this story from the ABC News website- covering the supposed flip-flop from Kerry on the $87 billion bill for troop support.

Bush has been throwing ads out citing Kerry's vote against the $87 billion supplement for forces in Iraq. (The ads also make the false/lying/deceptive claim that Kerry was anti-troops in regards to combat pay, etc.) There are lots of stupid things about the ad--and you can take a look at the just-cited post from Marshall--but the real egregious issue here is ABC's treatment (also covered by Marshall.)

Leading to the vote for troop funds, Kerry backed an alternative that would get the $87 billion from the tax cuts as opposed to the debt route favored by Bush. He spoke on Face the Nation around that time. Here's ABC:

Conducting the interview on CBS, Los Angeles Times D.C. bureau chief Doyle McManus asked Kerry, if his amendment "does not pass, will you then vote against the $87 billion?"

Kerry's full response is as follows: "I don't think any United States senator is going to abandon our troops and recklessly leave Iraq to whatever follows as a result of simply cutting and running," he says. "That's irresponsible. What is responsible is for the administration to do this properly now."

As Marshall writes, this is a dodge. It avoids the answer (which was no) because voting against the $87 doesn't sound good. Tangent: I agreed with Edwards' and Kerry's decisions to voteagainstt the funds, in contrast with The New Republic's, and the majority of other dems on that issue. Sure we need to fund the troops, and I can't imagine Edwards and Kerry had no intent to not do so. Rather, this was a protest vote in the face of assured passing. And it was a valid protest. It's plain STUPID not to take that money from the tax cuts. If Bush is serious about this war, why isn't he willing to call for a little sacrifice?

In any event, this is ABC's language about the comment on Face the Nation:

In the interview, Kerry never clearly stated whether he would or would not vote for the $87 billion funding bill, a fact that may offer him some sort of exculpation. But one of the few press outlets to cover his remarks on the subject, the Washington Times, wrote the next day that "Mr. Kerry said he would still vote to authorize the $87 billion. Not doing so, he said, would be 'irresponsible.'"

Here's Josh Marshall's observation:

This is great. Kerry didn't say he would vote for it or that voting against would be irresponsible. But the tendentious misconstrual offered by the right-wing Washington Times says he did. So let's go with that. And contradicting what the Times said constitutes a flip-flop.

The Washington damn Times? This is truly unbelievable. Let's wait to see ABC News get the crucial facts of their next story from The Nation. Not until then will I consider ABC News NOT Bush's frontline in PR.