The Ugly Truth

And is this the first public regret ever expressed by Cheney?

"TIME: Mr. Vice President, if you had to take back any one thing you'd said about Iraq, what would it be?

"CHENEY: I expressed the sentiment some time ago that I thought we were over the hump in terms of violence, I think that was premature. I thought the elections would have created that environment. And it hasn't happened yet."

Cheney's Visitors

Matt Apuzzo writes for the Associated Press: "A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to release information about who visited Vice President Dick Cheney's office and personal residence, an order that could spark a late election-season debate over lobbyists' White House access.

"While researching the access lobbyists and others had on the White House, The Washington Post asked in June for two years of White House visitor logs. The Secret Service refused to process the request, which government attorneys called 'a fishing expedition into the most sensitive details of the vice presidency.'"

WFLA-TV's Hite actually kicked off his interview with Cheney by asking about that story.

" THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, it's -- apparently it's a request to the Secret Service for records of who entered vice presidential residence over a long period of time. These are not Secret Service records; these are records that belong in the Office of the Vice President. Apparently it's a FOIA request from some news organization. But that's all I know about it.

" Q I see. It's a fishing expedition of some kind you suspect?

" THE VICE PRESIDENT: I believe it is, yes.

" Q I see, sir.

" THE VICE PRESIDENT: Goes with public life these days, Bob.

" Q Yes, yes, I'm sure."

Be Very Afraid

Dan Balz and Jim VandeHei write in The Washington Post: "With top Republican strategists now privately predicting substantial House losses, President Bush and top GOP officials plan to spend the final days of the 2006 campaign attempting to rally partisans and limit conservative defections with dire warnings about the consequences of a Democratic Congress.

"Amid predictions that demoralized conservative voters might sit out the election, Bush and other senior Republicans will escalate charges that Democrats will raise taxes, weaken national security and liberalize social policies. Bush struck those themes in campaign appearances yesterday in Pennsylvania and Virginia, and White House senior adviser Karl Rove said he 'will consistently refresh that message' between now and Election Day. . . .

"The mood among most GOP strategists -- with the exception of Rove and a few others -- is decidedly downbeat heading into the final 18 days."

Character Counts

Dana Milbank writes in The Washington Post: "So it has come to this: Nineteen days before the midterm elections, President Bush flew here to champion the reelection of a congressman who last year settled a $5.5 million lawsuit alleging that he beat his mistress during a five-year affair. . . .

"While representing the good people of the 10th District, the married congressman shacked up in Washington with a Peruvian immigrant more than three decades his junior. During one assignation in 2004, the woman, who says Sherwood was striking her and trying to strangle her, locked herself in a bathroom and called 911; Sherwood told police he was giving her a back rub.

"At a time when Republicans are struggling to motivate religious conservatives to go to the polls next month, it is not clear what benefit the White House found in sending Bush to stump for [Don] Sherwood -- smack dab in the middle of what Bush, in an official proclamation , dubbed 'National Character Counts Week.'"

Jim Rutenberg reports for the New York Times from the Sherwood fundraiser that "far from seeming to hold his nose, Mr. Bush strongly embraced Mr. Sherwood, firmly shaking his hand as they stood on the stage, smiling for the flashing cameras, and then telling supporters, with gusto, 'I'm pleased to be here with Don Sherwood: he is the right man to represent the people of the 10th Congressional District from the state of Pennsylvania.'

"The president also accompanied Mr. Sherwood; his wife, Carol and his daughter Maria to a local ice cream shop, ushering photographers over to take a picture of him with the Sherwoods, 'a little family-style, eating ice cream.' . . .

"The White House did not make it easy for reporters to come here and report on his message. They were offered no directions and no charter plane to get to La Plume -- far from Washington."

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "President Bush campaigned Thursday for a congressman who has confessed to adultery and a senator accused of racial insensitivity, seeking to boost incumbent Republicans once safe for re-election but now in peril. . . .

"'I think the president understands that it's important to set high standards,' said spokesman Tony Snow."

More Than Allen Wanted?

Robert Barnes and Michael D. Shear write in The Washington Post: "President Bush added a stern stay-the-course message on the war in Iraq to his buoyant endorsement of Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) yesterday. . . .

"Allen may have gotten a bit more support from the president than he wanted; after Bush departed, Allen seemed to distance himself from some of Bush's tough talk on Iraq.

"As he and his wife, Susan, stood next to Bush in front of a huge U.S. flag, the president excoriated Democrats on national security and taxes. 'They would have our country quit in Iraq before the job is done,' Bush said . 'That's why they are the party of cut and run. We will fight. We will stay. We will win in Iraq.'

"After the speech, the senator's aides brought Allen out to meet with reporters, where he softened the tone, saying that 'America needs to adjust. Our battlefield commanders need to adjust and adapt to this evolving threat.'"

Smashing Pumpkins

Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times wrote in his pool report from Richmond yesterday that Bush made an unscheduled stop at a pumpkin stand.

"The president walked over to a bin of pumpkins as he announced to the pool, 'Don't tell Laura.' He said he wanted it to be a surprise for her. He picked a nice-sized pumpkin up by the stem, promptly breaking it, but said he would buy that one.

"Stand owner Bill Gaulmyer said the pumpkin would be his gift, but the president said he was paying."

O'Reilly Factor, Part Three

Yesterday morning, I somehow overlooked part three of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's interview with Bush.

Here's the transcript ; and the video in two segments .

This was the personal part of the interview. O'Reilly, looming gigantically over Bush as they walked around the White House together, announced: "When people criticize me, I think I'm the second most criticized person in the country. You're first by a large margin, but I'm second."

"O'REILLY: I'm just wondering, psychologically. You work hard, right?

"BUSH: I think I do. . . .

"O'REILLY: But then [Bob] Woodward says you don't listen to anybody. You just blow them off.

"BUSH: Well, that's his opinion. He just doesn't know how it works, because I've got a lot of good, strong people around me that -- you know, they walk in the Oval Office. They're not intimidated. They say here's what's on mind, but I listen to a lot of people from outside as well. Of course I listen to people."

Bush once again confirmed that he has not given any thought to how he would deal with a Democratic Congress.

"O'REILLY: But you have to plan for it, right? Worst case?

"BUSH: No, not really.

"O'REILLY: No?

"BUSH: Because -- I mean, there will be times to adjust, but I don't intend -- I really believe we're going to hold both. I recognize it's a tough fight."

O'Reilly said he is evidently not as good as Bush at handling criticism: "You're more philosophical. See, I'm sitting there going oh, if I had this guy's neck, you know.

"BUSH: Well, I'm not as big as you are, so I can't -- you know -- I wouldn't be able to get away with that."

Then Bush endorsed O'Reilly's belief that some people hate him simply because of his faith.

"O'REILLY: The secular progressives don't like you because you're a man of faith.

"BUSH: Yes.

"O'REILLY: You know that.

"BUSH: Yes. That causes me to be sad for people who don't like somebody because he happens to believe in the Almighty.

"O'REILLY: But you know that's in play.

"BUSH: Absolutely."

"O'REILLY: They think you are some kind of evangelical. God tells you what to do and you go out and do it. And they hate that."

"BUSH: I guess that I have pity for people who believe that. They don't understand the relationship between man and the Almighty, then."

Bush on Lieberman

Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman still calls himself a Democrat, even after losing the Democratic primary and running for re-election as an independent.

At the Allen fundraiser yesterday, Bush either wittingly or unwittingly encouraged speculation that Lieberman is, in fact, not a Democrat at all.

"You know, the Democrat Party made a clear statement about the nature of their party when it came to how they dealt with Senator Joe Lieberman. . . . He took a strong, principled stand, and he was purged from the Democrat Party."

Signing Statement Watch

Alicia Mundy writes in the Seattle Times: "U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, who is in the midst of a tough re-election battle, sent a letter to President Bush this week, but it was no 'thank you' note.

"On Tuesday, Reichert, R-Auburn, wrote the White House, complaining that Bush is weakening a key provision in a new homeland-security bill to prevent inexperienced political cronies from running the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

"After signing the legislation, which passed Congress last month, Bush issued ' signing statements ' that said he could ignore provisions that set minimum qualifications for the FEMA administrator and allow the administrator to directly advise Congress."

Twin Watch

Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts write in The Washington Post: "More than a month and a half after she apparently left Washington, Jenna Bush 's secretive Latin American activities are coming into focus: She is in Panama, working as an intern with UNICEF."

Big Snow Job

William Powers writes in the National Journal about how "largely positive pieces about the White House press secretary have appeared in two leading newspapers over the last few weeks. . . .

"The first, by The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz , appeared on the front page of that paper's Style section last week under the headline 'Tony Snow Knows How to Work More Than One Room; It's Gloves Off (and Pass the Hat) for Bush Spokesman.' The essential message was that Snow is awfully good at his job, particularly when it comes to disarming the reporters who cover him. . . .

"The New York Times followed this week with its own Snow study, a front-pager by Sheryl Gay Stolberg . . . .

"Snow's rise is unquestionably news, and it's useful to know exactly how he tames the many-headed media beast (it's 'the megawatt smile,' one reporter told Kurtz). But because this was the kind of news that cares more about pure gamesmanship (Snow's riding high!!) than the principles underlying the game (Is he truthful? Is he doing anything to make this closed administration more open?), it wound up having less value than it appeared to have.

"Except to Snow and his No. 1 client. For this White House to pull off this kind of coverage, in two not-exceedingly-friendly papers, at this particular moment in time -- war raging, polls down, a tough election weeks away -- is a pretty massive coup."

Froomkin on the Radio

I'll be on Washington Post Radio this afternoon from 2:10 to 2:30. Call in at 1-877-POST-1077.