Where's the Cowboy Talk Now?

Bush: "Well, if they get - if we get intelligence that they're about to transfer a nuclear weapon, we would stop the transfer and we would deal with the ships that were taking the - or the airplane that was dealing with or taking the material to somebody."

Stephanopoulos: "And if it happened, you'd retaliate."

Bush: "You know, I'd just say it's a grave consequence."

Stephanopoulos: "And that's about as serious as it can get."

Bush: "Well, my point is, is that I want the leader to understand, the leader of North Korea to understand that he'll be held to account. Just like he's being held to account now for having run a test."

A Vietnam Metaphor

Michael A. Fletcher and Peter Baker write in The Washington Post: "President Bush said Wednesday that the current surge of violence in Iraq 'could be' comparable to the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War, a succession of battles that became a milestone because it helped turn the American public against the conflict and its political leadership.

"Bush has strongly resisted comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam, but with U.S. casualties continuing to mount, he agreed to an interviewer's analogy and said he detected a spike in attacks timed to the congressional elections in three weeks with the goal of forcing the United States to lose its will."

Here's the transcript of that exchange:

Stephanopoulos: " Tom Friedman [subscription required] wrote in the New York Times this morning that what we might be seeing now is the Iraqi equivalent of the Tet Offensive. . . . "

Bush: "Yeah."

Stephanopoulos: " . . . in Vietnam in 1968. Tony Snow, this morning, said he may be right. Do you agree?"

Bush: "Mm-hmm. He could be right. There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence. And we're heading into a an election."