Demagogue

At Wednesday's White House press briefing, Press Secretary Tony Snow began by offering the administration's "take" on the controversy surrounding leaked excerpts from the National Intelligence Estimate. At one point:

SNOW: "... this is why the President says we're safer. Al Qaeda has been significantly degraded. It is one of the key conclusions -- or at least the key judgments; you don't have conclusions in a National Intelligence Estimate -- that, in fact, the operational structure had been weakened ...."

REPORTER: "A couple things. You said, first of all, that al Qaeda has been degraded. Actually, the report said al Qaeda's leadership has been degraded, but that its ranks have increased."