Obama, CNN, and AP

Everyone defending Barack Obama for my earlier post bashing his "Bush veto" response is making a really obvious mistake: they are equating the CNN interview with the AP interview. They are, apparently, different beasts. There is obviously the CNN appearance, but the AP got the info in its own interview.

"My expectation is that we will continue to try to ratchet up the pressure on the president to change course," the Democratic presidential candidate said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't think that we will see a majority of the Senate vote to cut off funding at this stage."

Of course, the AP could've gotten this key passage horribly wrong:

If President Bush vetoes an Iraq war spending bill as promised, Congress quickly will provide the money without the withdrawal timeline the White House objects to because no lawmaker "wants to play chicken with our troops," Sen. Barack Obama said Sunday.

But if so, the Obama campaign has made zero effort to correct the effort (nothing on their site or blog).

So to be clear -- the AP story is based on a separate interview than the CNN one, so the CNN transcript is completely irrelevant.

At best, Obama's notion that there's a "game of chicken" on the line implies both sides are responsible for this standoff. Fact is, Democrats have voted to fund the troops, it's up to Bush to decide whether to veto that funding and deprive the troops of that money.

If Bush vetoes it, Congress should send that exact same bill back to him. If Bush wants money for his war, he's got to be held accountable.