On Monday I blogged about the ABC News poll of Iraqis that surprised the left by its upbeat results. Seventy percent of Iraqis are opimistic and better off than a year ago.

Today, Jason on Countercolumn notices that the media are, once again, surprised–this time because of the success of Iraqi parliamentary elections.

Obviously, the press is reading its own press. We on the right like claim the liberal media intentionally distorts the news to conform to its world view. If the AP, ABC, and NYT really are surprised that things in Iraq are much better than they’ve been reporting, maybe they’re not malicious. Maybe they’re really that stupid.

In the end, does it matter? Bush’s popularity has returned as pollsters stopped seeding questions, and the Iraqis will soon have a freely elected Parliament.