Poll Numbers Do Not Say What They Think They Say

Really, the poll numbers only say what they say - not what the administration wishes they would say. But here we have another case of the W, Rove and Co trying to have their cake and eating it too:

Q Tony, isn't one of the reasons the poll numbers look bad is because Americans hear the administration say again and again, we've captured or killed two-thirds of the known leadership of al Qaeda, we've got them on the run, and, yet, a plot like this is uncovered?

MR. SNOW: Well -- no. I really am not going to sit here and do a seance about public opinion polls because I don't know. I don't think anybody knows. I think it's pretty -- when you're in a war like this, and especially with a vague and unseen enemy, you can understand that people are going to have anxiety. And one of the frustrations is you can't show everybody the kinds of things that are going on each and every day. But the fact is, just because you've degraded a lot of al Qaeda doesn't mean that you still don't have people who are committed to killing Americans. And that is an important ingredient.

So are we winning the war on terror or not? You can't simultaneously say we are winning the war on terror and then turn around and suggest we should fear terrorism...unless, of course, it's to your political advantage and we are heading in to November....