A 'Clear Message'

"I think that this pastoral sense of him that has been perpetuated is preventing Christians from being more critical, objectively critical -- in Jesus' words, 'wise as a serpent.' And I also think that it contributes to this sense of political seduction by Christians. When you get to the point where when I mention Jesus people think they know my politics, that I'm pro-life and anti-gay and pro-Iraq war, as opposed to identifying Jesus as someone who will bring life and has good news, I think that's troubling."

Remember John DiIulio?

What is it about the office of faith-based initiatives that makes some former staffers violate the White House code of silence? Could it be . . . their faith?

John DiIulio, the first director of the office, famously spilled his guts to Ron Suskind for an Esquire story back in January 2003.

Said DiIulio at the time: "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. . . . What you've got is everything -- and I mean everything -- being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."

In fact, Kuo told Newsweek's Wolffe that DiIulio was very much a role model.

Kuo: "I wanted to write it because I felt like there's a seduction that goes on of Christians in politics. It's hardly new, but it's right now extremely troubling. Frankly, the other reason is that in my experience at the White House, the single greatest progress we ever made on the compassion front was after John DiIulio did a controversial Esquire article. After that occurred -- and I go into this in great detail in the book -- the White House paid more attention to the compassion agenda in the 48 or 72 hours after that than they ever paid in the 2-and-a-half years that followed. I'm an optimist and a big believer in the president's agenda, especially on poverty."

Reassuring Maliki

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "President Bush reassured Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq on Monday that he would not set a timetable for withdrawal of American troops and would continue to support the prime minister, despite recent reports that military officials and some Republican lawmakers were dissatisfied with the Iraqi government's performance.

"The White House also suggested that it would not necessarily accept the recommendations of an independent commission reviewing Iraq policy. 'We're not going to outsource the business of handling the war in Iraq,' said Mr. Bush's press secretary, Tony Snow."

Paul Richter and Borzou Daragahi write in the Los Angeles Times: "Snow said that Bush, who initiated the phone call, encouraged the prime minister 'to ignore rumors that the United States government was seeking to impose a timeline on the Maliki government.'

"But when asked whether Bush had 'total confidence' in Maliki's Shiite-dominated government, Snow said the president 'believes the prime minister is doing everything in his power' to stem the country's raging violence, adding, 'There has to be more to be done. The violence levels are absolutely unacceptable.'"

Whenever writing about Bush's strategy to empower a strong central government it's important to note how unrealistic that seems on the ground in Iraq. Richter and Daragahi do just that.

They write: "Iraqi officials acknowledge that Maliki heads a government divided along sectarian lines that is fundamentally weak and unable to exert its authority."

And, they note: "In Iraq's conspiracy-obsessed political culture, U.S. efforts to pressure Maliki sparked whispers of a possible American-backed coup d'etat against his government."

The Baker Commission

That independent commission reviewing Iraq policy is co-chaired by James A. Baker III, who was secretary of state to Bush's father.

Gary Kamiya writes in Salon: "In perhaps the strangest vindication of that old '60s chestnut 'The personal is the political,' the fate of America's Iraq adventure may hinge on whether George W. Bush can handle being taken to the woodshed by an emissary of his old man.

"For Bush, the day of reckoning is at hand. After years of talking tough, smearing war opponents as appeasers and demanding 'total victory,' he must confront the fact that his Iraq war has been a catastrophic failure. . . .

"The Republican Party brain trust, such as it is, desperately needs to find a way to talk Bush off the ledge, pry him away from his neocon delusions and Darth Cheney, and persuade him to cut his losses."

Peter S. Canellos writes in the Boston Globe: "The commission is widely seen as a face-saving way for the current President Bush to shift strategies in Iraq. With Democrats looking likely to take over the House of Representatives, Baker's commission takes on extra importance, since it would seem to offer a compromise between either pulling out (favored by liberals in Congress) or staying the course (favored by neoconservatives in the administration). . . .

"If Baker can buy Bush two more years to pursue 'peace with honor,' and give Republican presidential candidates a way to express misgivings about the war while continuing to fight for an honorable peace, he will have performed the ultimate service to the Bushes and the Republicans.

"He will have enabled them to evade responsibility for a devastating war."

Celebration of Ignorance

Tony Snow continues to get good press, in spite of some serious flaws.

For instance, while it may be refreshing and even disarming for him to openly admit he doesn't know the answer to an obscure question, it's less so when he cheerfully pleads ignorance about the most important questions of the day.

From yesterday's briefing :

"Q Going back to Iraq, Tony. You said a couple of times that more needs to be done to deal with the violence. What, and by whom?

"MR. SNOW: Well, obviously, I don't know what, because I'm not a general. But it is pretty clear that it's going to be important to continue going after terror elements, especially those who are dug in, and that's in various parts around the country. And right now it's joint operations but, eventually, the ones who are going to have to finish the job are the Iraqis themselves. But certainly they're going to be doing it in concert with coalition forces. . . .

"Q One on Iraq again. Sorry. Just the simple question: Are we winning?

"MR. SNOW: We're making progress. I don't know. How do you define 'winning'? The fact is, in taking on the war on terror -- let me put it this way, the President has made it obvious, we're going to win."

I've written many times about Snow's tendency to duck questions by trying to put reporters on the spot with questions of his own.

But: "How do you define winning?"

That's not a question for the press; that's a crucially important question for the White House that gamely insists victory is still possible, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary.

The O'Reilly Factor

It's a good bet that Bush is trying to stoke his base when sits down with Fox News's bombastic conservative talker, Bill O'Reilly. But at least in part one of the interview, shown last night, O'Reilly actually expressed some skepticism about Bush's Iraq policy.

At one point, Bush was talking about the importance of Sunnis and Shiites participating in the political process, and O'Reilly jumped in.

O'Reilly: "But why should we be, after three and a half years, encouraged that that will happen?"

Bush: "Well, because it was about six months ago that we had elections where 12 million people said they want it to happen."

O'Reilly: "Just because they want it to happen, doesn't mean it's going to happen."

Bush: "Well, it's going to happen if we continue to -- Look, the alternative is to say it's not worth it, let's leave. . . . Well, that's not going to work. . . . "

O'Reilly: "Sixty percent of American are now against the Iraq war. Why?"

Bush: "Because they want us to win. They believe -- they're wondering whether or not we have the plan in place to win. . . . And I can understand why there's frustration. Because the enemy knows that killing innocent people will create a sense of frustration."

But push comes to shove, and O'Reilly is still . . . O'Reilly.

O'Reilly: "Is one of the reasons they've turned against the war in Iraq is that the anti-Bush press pounds, day in and day out, in the newspapers, on the network news, in books like Bob Woodward's, that you don't know what you're doing there? That you have no strategy, that you don't listen to dissent, that you've got this thing in your mind and you're stubborn and you just can't win it?"

Bush: "Well, I, I'm uh, you know, I'm, uh, disappointed that people would, uh, propagandize to that effect because the stakes are too high for that kind of illogical behavior.

"We, we, we have got a plan, we've got to stick to our stated goal."

Here's O'Reilly describing his approach to the interview:

"Now interviewing a president is not like interviewing anyone else on the planet. You cannot be confrontational with the president of the United States. You can be direct, but you can't be disrespectful. . . .

"Because every presidential interview is finite -- that is time is always a concern -- I decided to concentrate on the conflicts -- Iraq, Iran, North Korea and terror -- rather than on domestic issues. Also, I think it is important to look ahead rather than to look back. What good does it do to rehash WMDs? Does that do you any good? So the question is about what is happening now and whether we are winning or losing the high stakes battles we are fighting.

"Tonight, we'll talk about Iraq, Iran and North Korea. Tomorrow: terrorism, torture and all the controversy surrounding the detainees -- also Afghanistan. Finally on Wednesday, the personal attacks against President Bush, how he sees them and how they affect his job."

North Korea Watch

Graham Allison , the former dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and the author of a recent book on nuclear terrorism, has a chilling new piece on NiemanWatchdog.org:

"North Korea is the single most dangerous actor on Earth. It is the only nuclear weapons state whose leader could rationally imagine advancing his interests by selling a nuclear bomb to Osama bin Laden. . . .

"The key challenge for thinking citizens today is to understand the significance of the North Korean test, and most importantly, to move the Bush administration to adopt a principle of nuclear accountability that can prevent nuclear weapons ending up in terrorist hands."

And Allison turns one of Bush's favorite words against him:

"As I argue in Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe , success in preventing a nuclear 9/11 requires effective implementation of a doctrine of Three No's: No loose nukes, No new nascent nukes, and No new nuclear weapons states. On all three fronts, the administration's first-term performance can be summed up by one word: unacceptable."

That's right: Unacceptable.

Cheney Love

These days, pretty much the only events Vice President Cheney attends are Republican fundraisers or rallies at military bases.

Mark Leibovich of the New York Times trails along Cheney on a recent trip -- and marvels at the warm welcome.

Reaching Out to Talk Radio

Jim Rutenberg writes in the New York Times: "Conservative radio hosts are breaking with the Republican leadership in ways not seen in at least a decade, and certainly not since Rush Limbaugh's forceful advocacy of the party in 1994 spawned a new generation of stars, said Michael Harrison, publisher of the industry's lead trade publication, Talkers."

The result is "an intensive Republican Party campaign to reclaim and re-energize a crucial army of supporters that is not as likely to walk in lockstep with the White House as it has in the past. . . .

"The effort will peak on Oct. 24, when the administration will hold something of a talk-radio summit meeting, inviting dozens of hosts to set up booths on the White House grounds, where top cabinet officials are expected to sit for interviews. . . .

"But, several hosts said, the most telling development so far this year was the White House decision to invite some of the most popular hosts to the Oval Office for off-the-record time with the president."

Deconstructing the Stump Speech

David Jackson writes in USA Today: "President Bush's political pitch boils down to two words and one argument.

"The words are taxes and terrorism. The argument: Democrats are wrong on both."

Here's Jackson's accompanying chart .

Poll Watch

A new CNN poll finds Bush's approval rating down three points in a week, to 36 -- and his disapproval up five points to an all-time high for that poll of 61.

CNN also reports that the poll "suggests support among Americans for the war in Iraq is dwindling to an all-time low. Just 34 percent of those polled say they support the war, while 64 percent say they oppose it."

Bush's Failed Democracies

Brendan Murray writes for Bloomberg: "The governments of Iraq and Afghanistan for a third straight year received failing grades in key measures of democratic rule on a score-card of poor nations compiled by the Bush administration.

"The Millennium Challenge Corp., an agency President George W. Bush established in 2004 to distribute aid, said in reports released today that Iraq and Afghanistan failed their 2007 assessments in six categories of 'ruling justly:' political rights, civil liberties, control of corruption, government effectiveness, rule of law and accountability."