A Tale of Two Felonies

"But Senator Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican and the majority leader . . . said support for a censure would undermine the nation's efforts to fight terrorism and defend itself against its enemies."

Here's video of Feingold on ABC.

Bush Plans Another Iraq PR Blitz

But will he say anything new?

Michael A. Fletcher writes in Saturday's Washington Post: "President Bush plans to begin a series of speeches next week again explaining the administration's strategy for winning the war in Iraq, as the White House returns to a familiar tactic to allay growing public pessimism about the war that has helped keep the president's approval rating near its historic low. . . .

"As he did during his last round of speeches, Bush will attempt to focus on specific elements of his Iraq strategy in hopes of rallying public support for the war. His speech Monday will focus on the efforts being made by Iraqi security forces to tamp down the ongoing violence. Another address will focus on the military's evolving strategy for detecting and defusing roadside bombs. A third address is likely to be a case study of an Iraqi city or town, which the White House hopes will illustrate its plans for clearing insurgents from parts of Iraq, installing Iraqi security forces then rebuilding."

Bush previewed today's speech in his Saturday radio address : "Amid the daily news of car bombs and kidnappings and brutal killings, I can understand why many of our fellow citizens are now wondering if the entire mission was worth it. I strongly believe our country is better off with Saddam Hussein out of power."

While Bush's speech today is technically on the George Washington University's campus, it's not right to make it sound like he's actually speaking to students or teachers there. Rather, Bush's audience is the folks who rented the hall: The Foundation for Defense of Democracies , a conservative advocacy group that focuses on terrorism.

Friday's Talk

Bush took questions on Friday after a speech that was not, as many reported, to newspaper editors -- but was rather to a much friendlier audience: the publishers of small newspapers. Most of them obligingly offered up softballs.

But one question was the model of simplicity and directness:

"Q Mr. President, what are our plans if civil war breaks out in Iraq?"

Bush spoke at length in response, but didn't answer the question.

"Yes. Step one is to make sure -- do everything we can that there not be one."