Q: How do you know when your news media is blowing smoke up your ass?

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Barack Obama, reported by MSNBC:

MEXICO CITY - Acknowledging a Mexican drug war that is “sowing chaos in our communities,” President Barack Obama signaled Thursday he will not seek the reinstatement of a U.S. assault weapons ban but instead step up enforcement of existing laws against taking such weapons across the border.

Despite a campaign promise to see the lapsed ban renewed, Obama was bowing to the reality that to do so would be unpopular in politically key U.S. states and among Republicans as well as some conservative Democrats.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Barack Obama, reported by CNN:

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Reviving a ban on assault weapons and more strictly enforcing existing gun laws could help tamp down drug violence that has run rampant on the U.S.-Mexican border, President Obama said Thursday.

Speaking alongside Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Obama said he has “not backed off at all” on a campaign pledge to try to restore the ban.  It was instituted under President Clinton and allowed to lapse by President George W. Bush.

“I continue to believe that we can respect and honor the Second Amendment right in our Constitution -- the rights of sportsmen and hunters and homeowners that want to keep their families safe -- to lawfully bear arms, while dealing with assault weapons that, as we know here in Mexico, are used to fuel violence,” Obama said.

---

No, those dates are not typos.  These are two diametrically opposite spins from two different news organizations, on the same day, about the same event.

( Remainder cut for length )