CNN's Blitzer asked Boehner about new Iraq timeline, but not about previous one, now expired

On the May 9 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer asked House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to explain what he meant when he said on May 6, "By the time we get to September, October, members are going to want to know how well this is working," which Blitzer said was Boehner's reference "to the new strategy in trying to deal with the security situation in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq." But Blitzer did not ask Boehner to reconcile that statement with one -- as Media Matters for America has documented -- that Boehner made during a January appearance on CNN, in which Boehner set a different timeline regarding the war's progress, for a period of time that has already passed. On the January 23 edition of CNN Newsroom, Boehner told CNN congressional correspondent Andrea Koppel: "I think it will be rather clear in the next 60 to 90 days as to whether [Bush's] plan is going to work."

Also, during the May 9 edition of Fox News' Special Report, Fox News congressional correspondent Major Garrett reported on Boehner's May 6 statement without also noting that Boehner had laid out a timeline of just "60 to 90 days" in January. Garrett stated, "Boehner told Fox September is the time to judge the surge," and went on to air a clip of Boehner in which the congressman said: "We'll know in September how well this plan is going, whether it should continue."

As Media Matters noted, in their May 8 coverage of the Iraq war funding debate, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Associated Press all cited Boehner's statement that members of Congress will want to see results from Bush's troop increase by September or October, without noting his January 23 "60 to 90 days" declaration.

From the May 9 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BLITZER: And joining us now from Capitol Hill, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, Congressman John Boehner, the minority leader. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

I want you to clarify what you said on Sunday. You suggested this. You said, "By the time we get to September, October, members are going to want to know how well this is working, and if it isn't, what's Plan B." You're referring to the new strategy in trying to deal with the security situation in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq. What did you mean?

BOEHNER: Well, what I meant was is that all of our troops will be in place with the surge come the end of June. And so we'll have July, we'll have August, we'll have some idea in September how well this plan is working. We'll also have a better idea how the Iraqi government is doing in terms of the types of actions they need in order to take more control over their own destiny. And so, that's -- it's a natural time, I think, in the calendar. Members will have been home the month of August on a district work period, and when we get back in September, there's going to be a reassessment.

From the May 9 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

BOEHNER: I think the public, while they're frustrated with the war, the pace of progress in Iraq, just as I am, they don't want to lose and they don't want to just give up.

GARRETT: [Rep. Rahm] Emanuel [D-IL] minimized public discontent or the risks Democrats face on Iraq.

EMANUEL: Can we at some point politically make a mistake? That's possible. The main thing is, if we do right -- you know, I come from Chicago. Good government is good politics. If we do right by our troops, we do right by our national security interests, the politics will follow.

GARRETT: Boehner told Fox September is the time to judge the surge.

BOEHNER: We'll know in September how well this plan is going, whether it should continue.

GARRETT: Emanuel said the surge can't work if the Iraqi government doesn't do its part.

EMANUEL: This entire policy leads -- leans, rather, on the troops. Where is the political strategy?

From the 3 p.m. ET hour of the January 23 edition of CNN Newsroom:

KOPPEL: Pretty well, [anchor] Kyra [Phillips].

In his interview with CNN, Leader Boehner, for the first time, put the White House on notice, saying that the U.S. should know within the next two to three months whether or not the surge is going to work in Iraq. He also called the surge, which he supports, the last, best good chance to succeed.

[begin video clip]

BOEHNER: Well, no one is happy about how the war in Iraq is going. Clearly, the president is not happy. That's why he has offered a new strategy for securing Baghdad.

A lot of the other strategies have succeeded elsewhere around Iraq, but the problem has been in Baghdad. I think the American people want us to win in Iraq. I think the president's plan has a chance of being successful.

KOPPEL: How long can you and your membership give the president and give the Iraqi military, before you say, "You know what? You're not doing your job"?

BOEHNER: I think it will be rather clear in the next 60 to 90 days as to whether this plan is going to work. And, again, that's why we need to have close oversight, so that we just don't look up 60 or 90 days from now and realize that this plan is not working. We need to know, as we're -- we move through these benchmarks, that the Iraqis are doing what they have to do.

KOPPEL: You spent a weekend at Camp David recently, along with other Republican leaders, and had a lot of one-on-one time with President Bush to talk about Iraq. What did you tell the president?

BOEHNER: Well, I told the president and others in his administration that there's skepticism on the Hill as to whether this plan will work.

There is skepticism about whether the Iraqis really will step up and bring their military into Iraq, whether they will do the other parts of this plan that they have committed to. And that's -- the skepticism is built around the fact that so much of the plan is dependent on the Iraqis doing their part.

[end video clip]

KOPPEL: Now, an aide to Boehner told me that the leader's remarks were simply a gut feeling that he had. They were personal feelings that he had.

But, Kyra, it gives you a window when you consider the pressure that the Republican Party is under, especially Leader Boehner over here on the House side, when you consider that it comes just one day after he and some Republicans put the White House on notice that they wanted a report every 30 days on the status of what was happening in Iraq, on specific benchmarks, for the first time in writing, saying that they wanted this to come from the White House, from the Bush administration, and also one day, Kyra, after Leader Boehner said many in his party, including himself, are skeptical that this policy, that this surge is going to work -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Andrea Koppel, sure appreciate it.