Hey buddy, got a dime for a cup of spin?

[Alfonso Jones]

In an email news alert from the Wall Street Journal:

March 3, 2009

President Barack Obama is more popular than ever, Americans are hopeful about his leadership, and opposition Republicans are getting drubbed in public opinion, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds.

The poll shows a sharp jump in the proportion of Americans who say the nation is "generally headed in the right direction" since Mr. Obama's January inauguration, a period when economic indicators and financial markets have suggested the opposite. The survey shows that 41% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction, slightly below the 44% who say the country is on the wrong track.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1236120002...d=djemalertNEWS

I find that an amazing spin. Read the lead sentence again. It could factually have said "More Americans believe the country is on the wrong track than that the nation is generally headed in the right direction." Or, even, "Though more Americans believe the country is on the wrong track than that the nation is generally headed in the right direction, that gap is narrowing."

Bill P