Who Has No Plan?

And here's the text of Bush's speech this morning in Missouri: "So far the Democrats have refused to tell us their plan on how they're going to secure the United States. There's still four days left before the election, and there's still time for the Democrats to tell the American people their plan to prevail in this war on terror.

"So if you happen to bump into a Democrat candidate, you might want to ask this simple question: What's your plan? If they say they want to protect the homeland, but oppose the Patriot Act, ask them this question: What's your plan? (Laughter.) If they say they want to uncover terrorist plots, but oppose listening in on terrorist conversations, ask them this question: What's your plan? If they say they want to stop new attacks on our country, but oppose letting the CIA detain and question the terrorists who might know what those plots are, ask them this question: What's your plan? If they say they want to win the war on terror, but call for America to pull out from what al Qaeda says is the central front in this war, ask them this question: What's your plan?

"AUDIENCE: What's your plan?"

Bush, of course, was mischaracterizing the Democratic position on listening in on terrorist conversations and interrogation of terror suspects. Democrats support both -- just not the way Bush goes about them.

David Espo writes for the Associated Press: "'The White House seems to be playing into our hands,' [Sen. Chuck Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senate campaign organization] told reporters as part of a bullish preview of the Democrats' prospects for Senate races.

"'In an effort to strengthen their base, they keep reminding the public that there's not going to be any change in Iraq,' he said, referring to Bush's statement on Wednesday that he wants Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to remain in office through the end of his term."

Editorials From Unlikely Places

From an editorial in Norfolk's Virginian-Pilot : "The administration is masterful at crafting rhetorical choices that leave any rational listener with only one option. Still, saying that the Democratic Party favors a terrorist victory in Iraq demonstrates how far the White House must now go to make its failures look good by comparison. . . .

"It is increasingly clear that the forces of good are losing to sectarian civil war, and have even lost the support of the corrupt and ineffective government. There are insufficient Iraqi troops and police to keep people safe, and no will to employ them.

"Still, it is the Democrats, the president says, who don't know what to do about Iraq. 'I want you,' he said to voters in Indiana 'to think about the Democrat plan for success: There isn't one.'

"It is the Democrats, he says, who will lose Iraq if they win next week. But, as has become clear in the past four years, at a cost of more than 2,800 Americans, Democrats can't possibly lose peace and democracy in Iraq. The Bush administration already has."

Bush Plan in Flux?

And for those 29 percent who think Bush does have a plan? This just in: It may be changing.

David Ignatius writes in his Washington Post opinion column: "Following Tuesday's elections, President Bush will face some of the most difficult decisions of his presidency as he struggles to craft a strategy for dealing with the ruinous mess in Iraq. . . .