The New York Times, in one of those articles (registration) that they love to pass off as “analysis” rather than opinion and put in the news section, today bemoans that President Bush is hammering Democratic nominee John Kerry over his voting record on the Iraq war. Of course, instead of explaining that the problem is Kerry’s obvious contradictions, to the Times the problem is that the president and Vice President Dick Cheney are more effective in “getting their message across.”

Mr. Kerry has struggled to convince his audiences that his vote to authorize the president to use military force was a far, far cry from voting for a declaration of war.

So far, his aides and advisers concede, he has failed to get his message across, as Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have mocked his efforts as “a new nuance” that amount to more examples of the senator’s waffling.

And get a load of this:

In fact, in interviews since the start of the year, Mr. Kerry has been relatively consistent in explaining his position.

Mr. Bush may be seeking his moment now because polls show that Mr. Kerry’s approach to Iraq is resonating with voters as strongly as Mr. Bush’s – in some cases more strongly. That may explain why Mr. Kerry is willing to suggest some dates for the start of troop withdrawals, something he would not do a month ago.

Mr. Kerry’s team is still trying to figure out how their man can crystallize a message on Iraq. “You have to hand it to Bush and Cheney,” (Sen. Joseph) Biden, (D-Delaware) said. “When it comes to using the big megaphone of the presidency, they are the masters.”

As usual, when it comes to the liberal media, conservatives can’t be successful because of the content of their message. They are only successful because of the effectiveness of the vehicle used to convey it. Only liberals have a principled message worthy of acceptance, and if it fails with the people it’s because they didn’t convey it properly.