This is just another example of a pervasive pattern. A pattern that requires far more attention than it is getting:
Horrendous media coverage of the issues. And the ensuing tendency by the far right wing to distort the facts, and engage in misleading rhetoric or inverted logic that nevertheless "sounds" good without any further examination.
"Without any further examination" is exactly what the AP's Laurie Kellman did with respect to the Bush administration's argument that it can use signing statements to accomplish what in effect amount to changes in the law.