The Missing Links

Then he concluded: "And that's the argument that the White House will be making in this election year. But there are already signs that it isn't selling very well and that's making a lot of Republicans very nervous."

Anchor Bob Schieffer asked: "Well, what is the White House's attitude about that, Bill?"

Plante replied: "Well, you know, Bob, the president believes in this. And his advisers continue to believe that they can make a compelling argument by saying he's protecting the country from terrorist attack."

A General Malaise

Noting Bush's mention of strained psyches, Thomas M. DeFrank raises a potentially analogous moment: "In a July 1979 speech to the nation during a severe energy crisis, President Jimmy Carter warned of 'a crisis of the American spirit . . . a crisis of confidence . . . that strikes at the very heart, soul and spirit of America.'

"The address became widely known as the 'malaise speech,' and its pessimistic tone was credited by political analysts as a factor in Carter's reelection defeat by Ronald Reagan a year later."

Rewriting History

Forcefully asked what Iraq had to do with 9/11, Bush somewhat astonishingly responded: "Nothing, except for it's part of -- and nobody has ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a -- the lesson of September the 11th is, take threats before they fully materialize, Ken. Nobody has ever suggested that the attacks of September the 11th were ordered by Iraq."

Dick Polman blogs for the Philadelphia Inquirer: "Nobody's ever 'suggested' it? Another stunner. Bush himself has 'suggested' it on many occasions. For instance, during a press conference on the eve of the war, while talking about Saddam, he reportedly invoked Sept. 11 eight times."

The liberal Think Progress blog documents some of those previous suggestions, and points to this excellent pre-war (March 2003) story by Linda Feldmann in the Christian Science Monitor: "In his prime-time press conference last week, which focused almost solely on Iraq, President Bush mentioned Sept. 11 eight times. He referred to Saddam Hussein many more times than that, often in the same breath with Sept. 11.

"Bush never pinned blame for the attacks directly on the Iraqi president. Still, the overall effect was to reinforce an impression that persists among much of the American public: that the Iraqi dictator did play a direct role in the attacks. A New York Times/CBS poll this week shows that 45 percent of Americans believe Mr. Hussein was 'personally involved' in Sept. 11, about the same figure as a month ago."

And amazingly enough, according to a Harris Poll just last month, 64 percent of Americans now say they believe Saddam Hussein had strong links to al-Qaeda.

The Day in Pictures

Wire photos captured many a scene of Bush looking exasperated.

Over on Huffington Post , readers are trying to decipher Bush's notes, captured by a photographer shooting over his shoulder.