Rah, Rah, Siss, Boom…. Bah.

The media cheer leading gets a stern call out from Ed Morrisey over at the Captain's Quarters. He's pretty hard on the New York Times. With good reason mind you. The Times is obviously playing opinion as news, anecdote as hard data. This is a common game and one which fails time and time again in the past elections.

Plenty will change between now and November, but the question is what will change and in which direction. The polling has continued to change, but not in the manner in which the Times describes. Rasmussen notes a seven-point improvement for the GOP in the generic Congressional ballot, with only an eight-point gap. USA Today/Gallup shows a two-point gap, a nine-point improvement for Republicans and a dead heat that would indicate almost no change in House composition at all. Pew Research shows a decline in the gap over the summer, as does Hotline, which shows the race at a complete dead heat.

These numbers do not get mentioned in the Times article. The only numbers produced by Toner and Zernicke are the numbers for general dissatisfaction in America's direction, which have approached the lows set in 1994, when the Republicans took control of the House. However, while the number does have some correlation to political movement, it isn't a direct correlation. That number includes many conservatives who feel that the Bush administration and the GOP majority in Congress have not upheld conservative principles during their tenure. Those voters will not support Democrats in November. They may stay home, but that's probably less likely considering the impact on national security that these elections will have.

The only solid numbers used by the Times are prices of gasoline, but even then they manage to be somewhat misleading. Gas prices have actually fallen well ahead of their normal drop-off point, Labor Day, down significantly from a couple of months ago. Now that the family-vacation season has concluded, prices will fall even farther. If significant resources do not get clobbered by hurricanes in the Gulf Coast this season, prices will fall even further. Democrats relying on commodity pricing to gain political traction may be building their houses on sand.

By all means read the whole thing, it's pretty harsh on the Times. Of course, these days criticizing the Times is sort of like shooting whales in a bucket. (But still, it's fun to do even if it is easy). I noted a fairly honest report yesterday that did not indulge in the media cheer leading anywhere near as much. I would recommend that over getting your information from the Times.

UPDATE: Curt from Flopping Aces has a history lesson.