Too Bad DeLay Didn’t Have This Screencap As A Prop

Last week, our friends on the Left jumped all over comments from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R) that appeared in the Houston Chronicle with no context:

“You know, if Houston, Texas, was held to the same standard as Iraq is held to, nobody’d go to Houston, because all this reporting coming out of the local press in Houston is violence, murders, robberies, deaths on the highways,” DeLay said.

“And if you took that as the image of what is a great city that has an incredible quality of life and an incredible economy, it’s amazing to me. Go to Iraq. And see what’s actually happening there.

“Everybody that comes from Iraq is amazed at the difference of what they see on the ground and what they see on the television set.“

Here’s a fun screencap of “local” headlines from KTRK-13’s website this morning:

So, does that screencap give the impression that we live in a great city with an incredible quality of life and an incredible economy? Or does that screencap give the impression our city is all about violence, murders, robberies, and deaths on the highways?

Houston is not Iraq, and our honest friends on the Left know that the House Majority Leader didn’t say it is. However, negative news does dominate the news cycle — everywhere, including Iraq.

I’m a professional political risk analyst. I’m not going to tell you that Iraq is idyllic. And neither is the House Majority Leader. But just as the reality on the ground in Houston is NOT reflected accurately by that screencap above, the reality on the ground in Iraq is not simply burning buildings and body bags.