Where's the Cowboy Talk Now?

One doesn't usually think of Bush as meek. So what's going on here? Is it possible that his Iraqi misadventure has scarred him?

Certainly, Bush must be aware that talk of taking military action based on intelligence findings would remind the public of the last time he said that, and rekindle doubts about his credibility. Similarly, Bush has repeatedly expressed regrets for some of his more bellicose talk in the months after 9/11.

But is that preventing him from saying the right things now, when there is a much more plausible and terrible threat?

Or could it be that Bush knows he's not prepared to do what needs to be done?

Former secretary of defense William J. Perry wrote on the Washington Post op-ed page last week: "The president has warned North Korea not to transfer any materials from its nuclear program. But the warnings we have sent to North Korea these past six years have gone unheeded and its acts unpunished. It is not clear that this latest one will have any greater effect. If a warning is to have a chance of influencing North Korea's behavior it has to be much more specific. It would have to promise retaliation against North Korea if a terrorist detonated a nuclear bomb in one of our cities. It must be backed by a meaningful forensics program that can identify the source of a nuclear bomb."

The Transcript

ABC for some reason doesn't seem to be posting the transcript of its Bush interview.

So here's the transcript of Bush's exchange with Stephanopoulos on North Korea:

Stephanopoulos: "Last week, after their first test, you went into the White House and you said that any transfer of nuclear material by North Korea would be considered a grave threat to the security of the United States. I went back and checked, you've used that phrase once before in your presidency about Iraq. So, are you saying then if North Korea sold nukes to Iran or al Qaeda. . . . "

Bush: "They'd be held to account."

Stephanopoulos: "What does that mean?"

Bush: "Well, at the time they find out, George, one of the things that's important for these world leaders is to hear is, you know, we use means necessary to hold them to account."

Stephanopoulos: "So if you got intelligence that they were about to have that kind of a transfer. . . . "