Couric: Candor, Contrition Bush Bump Basis

Much as the folks at Today revel in reporting soaring gas prices and plunging Bush poll numbers, pesky facts - in the form of a recent Bush poll rise - can get in the way.

But that was not about to stop Katie Couric this morning. The Perky One, tan and blonder-than-ever in her return from vacation, explained away Bush's recent poll bump as resulting soley and exclusively from his mea culpas.

Katie's guest was reliable all-purpose talking head Howard Fineman.

Couric:

"His poll numbers started to tick upward before the holidays, Howard, because it was sort of a more candid, contrite approach on the part of the President. Will he continue the strategy, do you think?"

Howard didn't think so:

"It doesn't sound like it. I think he's spoiling for a fight on the question of whether he took the right tack in terms of listening in on these phone calls. He's coming out fighting on this and I think he's going to have a fight on his hands."

Note that Couric didn't attribute just some of Bush's polling bump to candor and contrition. In Katie's book, apparently, the series of forceful speeches on Iraq by the President, and the successful elections there, had nothing to do with it. All of his uptick in the polls is due to his recognition of and apology for past mistakes.

How's that for the MSM making lemons out of lemonade?