BENCHMARKS: The new “lockboxes?”

UPDATE: Is the Republican Congress blowing things again? “I think I’m seeing a sea change in the way the war is being reported. Cautious optimism, or at least a lack of pessimism, seems to be leaching into MSM reporting.” Talk about lousy timing.

Or maybe this is brilliant Rovian jiu-jitsu: GOP members turn negative on the war, media reflexively turns more positive on the war. . . . It’s the power of negative thinking!