In his October 26 “Washington Sketch” column in The Washington Post on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's appearance before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Dana Milbank wrote: "[Rep. Christopher] Shays [R-CT] condemned a House Democratic leader for saying that 'if the Iraqi war went well it would be bad for Democrats,' " a reference to and mischaracterization of comments House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) made to the Post on July 30. Indeed, during the hearing Shays said, “I was struck by the comment of House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who said that basically, if the Iraqi war went well, it would be bad for Democrats.” However, Milbank did not provide Clyburn's actual statement or note that Shays misrepresented his comments. As Media Matters for America documented, during a July 30 “PostTalk” interview for washingtonpost.com, Clyburn said that a recommendation from Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, against “back[ing] away” from the current course in Iraq would impede Democrats' efforts to garner support in Congress for legislation to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq; Clyburn did not say that if the war went well, it would be bad for Democrats. In fact, the media have frequently misreported Clyburn's comments, as Media Matters has documented.

During the July 30 “PostTalk” interview, Washington Post reporter Dan Balz asked Clyburn, “What do Democrats do if General Petraeus comes in in September and says, 'This is working very, very well at this point; we would be foolish to back away from it'?” Clyburn responded: “Well, that would be a real big problem for us, no question about that, simply because of those 47 Blue Dogs. I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course, and if the Republicans were to remain united, as they have been, then it would be a problem for us. So I think we, by and large, would do wise -- be wise to wait on the report. None of us want to see a bad result in Iraq. If we are going to get in position to yield a good result, I think Democrats want to see that."

Tim Grieve at Salon.com also noted that Milbank cited Shays without reporting that Shays had misrepresented Clyburn's remarks.

From Milbank's October 26 column in The Washington Post:

While other lawmakers each got five minutes to question Rice, Shays managed to grab three turns. When he wasn't speaking or raising his hand to speak, he was coaching four GOP colleagues before their questioning time.

Shays lobbed the softest of questions at the secretary. “Tell me what would be gained,” he asked, referring to the Democrats' questions, from “a frontal assault against the prime minister.”

“Well, I see nothing that could be gained from a frontal assault,” Rice replied.

Shays condemned a House Democratic leader for saying that “if the Iraqi war went well it would be bad for Democrats.” He said Democrats' impertinence “blows me away.” As for Rice's refusal to answer questions, Shays said, “I'm happy that you have resisted.”

Shays even defended the maligned Blackwater security firm when Democrats questioned Rice about a drunken Blackwater employee who killed a security guard for an Iraqi vice president inside the Green Zone.

“I'd like to point out that there appears to have been no witnesses,” he argued.

Form Clyburn's comments during the July 30 “PostTalk” interview with reporters Dan Balz and Chris Cillizza regarding Petraeus' report:

BALZ: What do Democrats do if General Petraeus comes in in September and says, “This is working very, very well at this point; we would be foolish to back away from it”?

CLYBURN: Well, that would be a real big problem for us, no question about that, simply because of those 47 Blue Dogs. I think there would be enough support in that group to want to stay the course, and if the Republicans were to remain united, as they have been, then it would be a problem for us.

So I think we, by and large, would do wise -- be wise to wait on the report. None of us want to see a bad result in Iraq. If we are going to get in position to yield a good result, I think Democrats want to see that. We love this country. We're as patriotic as anybody else about this. And we have loved ones involved in this issue just like everybody else. I've got family and friends involved in Iraq and Afghanistan, and so I certainly want to see a good result. But I'm certainly not going to just roll over because the president said. It is only because we get good intelligence from those people like General Petraeus who can be trusted to give us good information.