Apparently the banner was too small. Five years ago today, when the president swooped in, all flight-suit-clad, to the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared before a gigantic sign marked “Mission Accomplished” that major combat operations in Iraq were over, that’s what he meant, according  to White House press secretary Dana Perino. (Sen. John McCain echoed that sentiment today.)

Yesterday Perino said that “we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year.” She added that the key thing is “how the president would describe the fight today. It’s been a very tough month in Iraq, but we are taking the fight to the enemy.” Tough indeed: the bloodiest month for U.S. troops since September. Since Bush’s proclamation on May 1, 2003, 3,924 U.S. troops have died in Iraq.

As a look back, Editor & Publisher recalls how the media covered Bush’s theatrics five years ago today, from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (who called Bush a “hero”) to PBS’s Gwen Ifil (who described him as “part Tom Cruise, part Ronald Reagan”).