Trying to Spin the Truth Away

"If we were to leave before the mission is complete, it would hurt U.S. credibility. Who would want to stand with the United States of America if we didn't complete the mission, and a mission that can be completed and will be completed? (Applause.) If we cut and run, if we don't complete the mission, what would that say to those brave men and women who have volunteered to wear the uniform of the United States of America? (Applause.) If we leave before the mission is complete, if we withdraw, the enemy will follow us home. (Applause.)

"By defeating the enemy in Iraq, jihadists who try to spread sectarian violence through brutal suicide bombings, jihadists who have declared openly that their mission is to convert that country into a safe haven for them to launch attacks -- when we defeat them, there will be a major defeat for the terrorists. It will strengthen the spread of democracy in the Middle East. . . .

"Look, our strategy is this: We will stay on the offense -- and we are. Any time we get a hint that somebody is going to hurt us, we respond. And we're keeping the pressure on the enemy. By the way, anybody who follows me should always understand you must keep the pressure on the enemy; otherwise, they will put the pressure on us. They still exist. It's important to understand this is a global war on terror -- not an isolated moment of law enforcement. This is the first war of the 21st century, and the United States of America must lead that war. And we must be firm, and we must be resolved. . . .

"You know, when you have resentment and anger, that breeds hatred; that breeds recruiting grounds for people to become a suicider. Imagine the mentality of somebody willing to kill for an ideology that just doesn't -- is not hopeful, and yet I believe a lot of it has to do with the fact that parts of the world breed resentment. And I believe that is due in part to the nature of the governments. I believe a system of government that encourages people to participate, and a government that says, we respond to your will, ends up creating a hopeful alternative to resentment and hatred."

Does Bush not realize that most of the violence in Iraq is no longer committed by jihadists, but by rival Muslim factions and Iraqis opposed to occupation? Or is he just pretending ignorance?

What would he say to the argument that staying the course in Iraq hurts U.S. credibility -- and its ability to inspire positive change in the region -- more than leaving?

What would he say to those who argue that the war in Iraq has detracted from our ability to keep the pressure on the real enemy?

What would he say to the argument that his Middle East policy is creating more resentment and hatred, rather than inspiring people to strive for freedom?

We don't know, of course, because he won't confront his critics.

Some Precedent

The White House on Tuesday made it official: Bush is not endorsing the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Connecticut. That, of course, is tacit encouragement to Republicans to vote for incumbent Joe Lieberman, who is continuing to run even though he lost to Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary.

Mark Silva blogs in the Chicago Tribune: "The White House had been pressed for examples of the last time a president had decided against supporting one of his own party's candidates. And today the Bush administration came up with examples -- the last involving the president's father, and that onetime Republican candidate for governor in Louisiana, racist David Duke."

Skimping on Pardons

The Associated Press reports: "President Bush pardoned 17 minor criminals yesterday.

"Most had not served time in prison. The longest sentence any of the 17 had received was five years.

"Bush has issued 99 pardons and sentence commutations during five years and seven months in office, mainly to clear the names of people who committed minor offenses and served their sentences long ago.

"He remains the stingiest of postwar presidents in this regard."

Here's the full list .

Josh Gerstein writes in the New York Sun: "A former soldier who went AWOL during the Vietnam War era is among 17 individuals granted pardons recently by President Bush, the Justice Department announced yesterday. . . .

"In 1968, an Army court-martial found William Frye of Indianapolis guilty of two counts of absence without leave and one charge of escape from confinement. He was sentenced to a year of hard labor and a bad-conduct discharge. . . .

"Mr. Bush's political opponents have asserted that he was AWOL for six months or more in 1972 while in the Air National Guard. He was never charged with a crime and has insisted that he fulfilled the military's requirements."

Kevin O'Neal of the Indianapolis Star caught up with Frye: " 'I was a young 19-year-old man who made a mistake,' Frye said Wednesday. 'A lot of people made mistakes when they were young. I've made up for that mistake.' "

Gerstein also quotes Margaret Love, a lawyer who oversaw clemency matters for the Justice Department between 1990 and 1997, as saying that Bush's reluctance to grant pardons is at odds with his bold view of presidential power. "The one place where he really has it, where could do anything he wants, where there is no check, he completely trivializes it," she said.

Signing Statement Watch

Tony Mauro starts his analysis of presidential signing statements in the Legal Times with this fascinating anecdote:

"It was an otherwise routine oral argument before the Supreme Court in April.

"Justices were debating the meaning of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, with Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia jousting, as usual, over the significance of the legislative history of the statute. . . .

"Suddenly, Scalia piped up with a question. 'What about the president? When he signed it, did he indicate an interpretation?'

"It was a startling inquiry, especially coming from a justice who fervently insists that he cares only about the words of a statute, not the spin that legislators -- and presidents, presumably -- put on those words."

Bush Talks Trade

David J. Lynch writes for USA Today that he interviewed Bush for 25 minutes yesterday, mostly about trade and globalization.

Lynch writes: "[A]s President Bush flew here Wednesday to cultivate support for free trade, he did so against darkening sentiment at home and abroad. Negotiations over a new global trade deal are moribund.

" 'My concern is that this kind of fear of globalization causes a reaction that will cause us to lurch toward protectionism. That's my biggest concern,' the president said."

And while many other nations blame the United State for the recent collapse of global trade talks, in the so-called Doha Round, Bush sees it otherwise.

"The way I view the way Doha has worked is that the whole round was fairly stagnant until I went to the United Nations last fall and made a very generous offer. Now I think the best way for us to proceed is for all of us to continue making offers simultaneously."

In a separate story, USA Today reports: "President Bush said Wednesday that he believes flying is safe and not a big inconvenience, even after an alleged terrorist plot to blow up jets headed to the USA was thwarted and new security measures were put in place."

Bush on a Harley

Bush made time for a photo op on his way to the Pennsylvania fundraiser.

The York Daily Record reports: "At Harley-Davidson's Springettsbury Township plant, George W. Bush may as well have been a rock star.

"Donning sunglasses similar to the ones worn by U2 front man Bono, President Bush strutted into the motorcycle maker's Softail plant Wednesday afternoon for a two-hour foray."

Meet Joe Cotchett

So who is this new lawyer representing Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame in their civil suit against Cheney and other administration officials?

Tim Simmers writes for the Oakland Tribune that Joe Cotchett "has won a number of high-profile cases, including a $1.75 billion jury verdict against Charles Keating in the Lincoln Savings & Loan scandal, and a $200 million jury verdict that prompted the collapse of the Technical Equities Corp. in San Jose. He's known for representing bilked investors in white-collar fraud cases."

Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross write in the San Francisco Chronicle that "with the ex-Army Special Forces Col. Cotchett's take-no-prisoners approach to lawyering, you can bet this case will be a doozy."

What's the Word?

Colin Brown writes in the Independent that British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott "has given vent to his private feelings about the Bush presidency, summing up George Bush's administration in a single word: crap. . . .

"The remark is said to have been made at a private meeting in Mr Prescott's Whitehall office on Tuesday. . . .

"The Deputy Prime Minister's office said last night that the meeting was private and would not confirm or deny his use of the word 'crap'."