Giving AP and the Times The Finger

Wizbang notes how hard and far the AP had to go in order to spin the successful elections in Iraq.

And the New York Times calls the turnout mixed?

Sorry, but I never seem to hear whether the turnout in US elections mixed. Turnout in Iraq is higher than any recent US election, and yet the Times calls this mixed? What are they reporting? News or their hopes and fears?

UPDATE:
It looks like the Constitution is going to pass. As always, the media is trying to spin this as a negative.

Iraq’s constitution seemed assured of passage Sunday despite strong opposition from Sunni Arabs, who voted in surprisingly high numbers in an effort to stop it. The U.S. military announced that five American soldiers were killed by a bomb blast on referendum day.

In London, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice predicted the charter was likely to pass, although she stressed she did not know the outcome for certain.

Initial estimates of overall turnout Saturday were 61 percent, election officials said. The constitution’s apparent victory was muted, though, by the prospect that the result might divide the country further.

Last time I checked, it took nearly 200 years for the US to pass the 27th Amendment. And then there is the matter of the issue of prohibition that spawned two amendments to the US Constitution - one to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol and one to repeal the prohibition.

And we're talking about a living and breathing document in the US that has been amended 27 times, including the Bill of Rights that are the first batch of amendments to the US Constitution because the basic document was found wanting. The Bill of Rights was ratified by the states 811 days after the Constitution was ratified.

Yet, with all that US history behind us, the media is jumping the gun and worrying about fears of civil war and that the strong vote by the Sunni will result in violence. I say that's nothing more than projection and 'wishful thinking.'

So, before the media gets their collective opinions in a bunch, they would be wise to take a step back, look at US history and say that the Iraqis have done a great job emulating the US.

Oh, and before I forget, just how united were the United States of America after the American Revolution? Not very, or is the media forgetting that there was major opposition to having a revolution in the first place (the Tories)?

UPDATE:
Ace notes that AP is running a story about how Sunnis Appear to Fall Short in Iraq Vote.

Yeah, they fell short all right. They wanted a bloody civil war, but all they got was a democratic constitution guaranteeing human rights.

Yeah, it really sounds like the Sunnis got all that they bargained for. Oh the horror. Oh the humanity.

Technorati: election, voting, iraq, constitution, election.