I heard most of the debate on the newsroom TVs as I was working on Saturday's paper. Overall, I thought President Bush did a much better job than last time. I think he's much more comfortable when he can interact with people, instead of just a TV camera.

One thing that struck me about the debate was the media's storyline that one bit of evidence of Bush's stupidity/thickheadedness is the fact that he never admit's he's wrong and never changes his mind.

One of the questions selected by moderator Charlie Gibson -- the final one of the night -- was for the president to name three mistakes he'd made. The president mainly sidestepped the question, saying he'd probably made some mistakes on some appointments (can you say Paul O'Neill?), but that the question should be left to historians to debate.

That's all well and good, but Sen. Kerry has taken a similar position:

Well, let me tell you, straight up, I've never changed my mind about Iraq.

This is a laughably false statement. Any Republican who tells you that everything is going great in Iraq is lying. Any Democrat who tells you nothing is going right in Iraq is lying.

John Kerry saying that he's never changed his mind about Iraq is lying.

But think back to the criticism that Bush is muleheaded and never changes his mind even when presented with new facts ... Kerry says "I've never changed my mind about Iraq." If it were true, wouldn't it open up him to the same criticism?

Of course it's not true, Kerry has stated multiple, contradictory positions on the issue -- sometimes within the same press conference. So, he gets a pass. Why? Well, because the media says so.