Where's the Cowboy Talk Now?

Stephanopoulos: "But it seems like every month we're going farther from that goal."

Bush: "Well, I don't know why you would say that."

Secret Plan?

And, speaking of Vietnam metaphors, does Bush have a "secret plan" for the war in Iraq?

Matt Gouras writes for the Associated Press from Montana: "Sen. Conrad Burns says he believes President Bush has a plan to win the war in Iraq but is keeping it quiet, a statement Democrats pounced on Wednesday as reminiscent of comments made during another divisive war.

"Burns, at a debate Tuesday night with Democratic challenger Jon Tester, said he believes Bush has a plan to win -- but added: 'we're not going to tell you what our plan is.' . . .

"Democrats likened Burns' comments to statements by President Nixon that led to news reports that he had a 'secret plan' to end or win the war in Vietnam. Like Nixon, Burns never used the word 'secret' but made it clear it wasn't in the president's or the country's interest to discuss any plans he has for winning the war."

Opinion Watch: Iraq

From a USA Today editorial : "Violence among rival religious sects is eclipsing the insurgency and pushing Iraq toward all-out civil war. . . .

"All of which raises the question: What, exactly, is the goal that U.S. forces are fighting and dying for? President Bush's idealistic goal -- of bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq and the wider Middle East -- is tantalizing but looks more and more like a mirage in the desert. . . .

"After 3½ years and nearly 2,800 U.S. military deaths, no one wants to leave Iraq as a failed state or a haven for terrorists, which would be among several unappealing consequences of an abrupt pullout. But U.S. men and women should not be sent to futile deaths in the pursuit of an illusion.

"The mistaken war and botched aftermath have created such a mess that the only credible course change must be predicated on this painful question: Is there an achievable goal that makes the further sacrifice of American lives worthwhile?

"With each passing day, that is looking less and less likely."

More From ABC

Bush also told Stephanopoulos he hadn't read any of the many books about his presidency. "I don't feel comfortable reading about myself," he said.

Asked what personal quality he felt would be most important for the next president, Bush replied: "Determination and compassion."

As for the midterms, Bush said: "I'm not on the ballot. . . .

"I have always found that when a person goes in to vote, they're gonna wanna know what that person's gonna do. What is the plan for a candidate on Iraq? What do they believe? Frankly, I hear desperate voices all over the place from the Democrats' side about Iraq."

Campaign Watch

Edward Luce and Caroline Daniel write in the Financial Times: "George W. Bush used to win elections for Republicans. But with the exception of private fund-raising events, at which he still excels, most of the US president's fellow Republicans are now pretending he does not exist."

Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey write for Newsweek: "While Bush's schedule for the final weeks of the campaign hasn't been finalized, a tentative schedule provided by a senior administration official has the president on the road for just two to three events each week before Election Day--not the heavy schedule one might expect for a president whose party is in real jeopardy of losing control of Congress."

Adam Nagourney and Jim Rutenberg write in the New York Times: "Four months ago, the White House offered a set of clear political directions to Republicans heading into the midterm elections: embrace the war in Iraq as critical to the antiterrorism fight and belittle Democrats as advocates of a 'cut and run' policy of weakness.

With three weeks until Election Day, Republican candidates are barely mentioning Iraq on the campaign trail and in their television advertisements."

Nagourney and Rutenberg write that this development "suggests that what has been a classic strategy of Mr. Bush's senior adviser, Karl Rove -- to turn a weakness into a strength -- is not working as well as the White House had hoped. . . .

"Republicans and Democrats said the White House effort to turn the war into an affirmative Republican issue was undercut by the increasing violence there, along with more American deaths that have brought the war home in the form of mournful articles in local newspapers."

Running Scared?

Here's what Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas is telling the Republican National Committee mailing list this morning: "Everything our Party has achieved in the past six years is at risk of being lost in just one day."

Poll Watch

Mark Murray writes for NBC News: "Bush's approval rating is at 38 percent, a one-point decline from a previous NBC/Journal poll released earlier this month."

Here are the full results .

Clinton Watch

Dan Balz writes in The Washington Post: "Former president Bill Clinton said yesterday that the governing Republican majority has abandoned the common good in favor of ideologically driven politics that demonize its opponents, has forced ordinary Americans to fend for themselves and has too often left the United States isolated internationally."

Or, as Michael McAuliff puts it in the New York Daily News: "Bill Clinton ripped the Bush administration and leaders in Congress yesterday as narrow-minded, extremist drones bent only on helping their rich pals."

Opinion Watch: Military Commission Bill

From a New York Times editorial : "While the Republicans pretend that this bill will make America safer, let's be clear about its real dangers. It sets up a separate system of justice for any foreigner whom Mr. Bush chooses to designate as an 'illegal enemy combatant.' It raises insurmountable obstacles for prisoners to challenge their detentions. It does not require the government to release prisoners who are not being charged, or a prisoner who is exonerated by the tribunals.

"The law does not apply to American citizens, but it does apply to other legal United States residents. And it chips away at the foundations of the judicial system in ways that all Americans should find threatening. It further damages the nation's reputation and, by repudiating key protections of the Geneva Conventions, it needlessly increases the danger to any American soldier captured in battle."

Former Army JAG Christopher Graveline writes in a Washington Post opinion piece: "Unfortunately, this legislation demonstrates that both the administration and Congress have failed to learn important lessons from what Bush described as the 'biggest mistake that's happened so far' in Iraq: the detainee abuses at Abu Ghraib.

"By dissociating potential criminal responsibility from overly aggressive interrogation practices that could be classified as 'minor' breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and setting up a situation in which different interrogation practices can be used by our military and the CIA, our national leadership has ensured more abuse scandals."

And from a commentary by MSNBC's Keith Olbermann : "This President now has his blank check.

"He lied to get it.

"He lied as he received it.

"Is there any reason to even hope, he has not lied about how he intends to use it, nor who he intends to use it against?"

Snow's Moonlighting

From a Denver Post editorial : "The White House press secretary should be a trusted link between the president and the American people. It's never been a post for political fundraising, and it shouldn't be now.

"Tony Snow should drop his campaign activity and stick to the work at hand.

"Modern presidents wear at least two hats, serving as leader of the country and also as leader of their political party. Until Snow climbed on board, however, press secretaries have played only one role - representing the president of all the people to all the people."

Signing Statement Watch

William Matthews writes for Air Force Times: "Congress said it wants next year's defense budget to include funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but President Bush has indicated he may ignore that request.

"In a ' signing statement ' released when he signed the 2007 Defense Authorization Act on Oct. 17, the president listed two dozen provisions in the act that he indicated he may or may not abide by.

"Among the provisions is Section 1008 of the Authorization Act, which requires the president to submit defense budgets for 2008 and beyond that include funding for the wars and contain 'a detailed justification of the funds requested.' . . .

"The wars have been paid for through emergency spending bills and 'bridge funds' that amount to about $450 billion so far. . . .

"A key congressional complaint about war funding through supplementals and bridge funds is that lawmakers see far fewer details about how the money will be spent, and supplementals must be approved by appropriations committees, but not by authorizing committees. Regular defense budgets must be approved by both."

Impeachment Watch

John Nichols blogs for the Nation: "From Vermont to Illinois to California, voters this fall will be deciding the fate not just of candidates for Congress but of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

"Communities that are home to more than 1 million Americans will have an opportunity to cast ballots on the question of whether Congress should begin impeachment proceedings against the president and vice president."

Skip That Joke

Ken Herman writes for Cox News Service: "In Pennsylvania today, President Bush might have to fine-tune -- or completely jettison -- the light-hearted remarks about candidates' spouses that are a fixture of his standard stump speech.

"'We both married above ourselves,' Bush frequently says about candidates he backs. . . .

"So, what's a president to say when headlining a fundraising reception for a candidate whose indiscretions with a woman other than his wife -- and 35 years his junior -- loom as a campaign issue?"

Snow: Losing It

From Monday's briefing :

"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'?

From yesterday's gaggle :

"Q Tony, does the deaths of 10 U.S. soldiers in Iraq today cause the President to rethink his strategy there?

"MR. SNOW: No, the strategy is to win. The President understands not only the difficulty of it, but he grieves for the people who have served and served with valor. But as everybody says, correctly, we got to win."

How Will We Know?

Libertarian author James Bovard writes in an Editor and Publisher opinion piece: "How will we know when a dictatorship has arrived? Not from reading the Washington Post. The Post's story today -- ' Bush Signs Terrorism Measure ' -- looks like just another routine report on the approval of a piece of legislation, accompanied by the usual 'he said/ she said' balancing quotes.

"The Military Commissions Act is widely seen as legalizing torture, but the article avoids any such mention of the T-word. Though the act revolutionizes American jurisprudence by permitting the use of tortured confessions in judicial proceedings, the Post discretely notes only that defendants will face 'restrictions on their ability to . . . exclude evidence gained through witness coercion.' . . .

"The Post neglects to mention that the bill codifies the president's power to label anyone on Earth an 'enemy combatant' -- based on secret evidence which the government need not disclose. . . .

"And this is how the Washington Post and much of the Establishment media portray almost every government seizure of power. It is never a question of looming tyranny: instead, it is only a question of different perspectives on how best to serve the American public. Waiting for the Washington press corps to sound the alarm on Leviathan is like waiting for Bush to renounce his love of power."