Failing to Reassure

Bush opened up by encouraging members of Congress to support the compromise immigration proposal that emerged last week: "Those who are looking to find fault with this bill will always be able to find something," he said. "But if you're serious about securing our borders and bringing millions of illegal immigrants in our country out of the shadows, this bipartisan bill is the best opportunity to move forward. I'm confident with hard work and goodwill, Congress can pass and I can sign a bill that fixes an immigration system we all agree is broken."

But in another example of his failing to reassure, Bush was asked by Washington Post reporter Mike Abramowitz: "What assurances can you give the American people that the department is delivering impartial justice to the American people?"

Bush's reply: "There is a -- an internal investigation taking place at the Justice Department. And this will be an exhaustive investigation. And if there's wrongdoing, it will be taken care of."

And then Bush criticized the congressional investigation for "taking a long time. It's going to -- kind of being drug out, I suspect, for political questions -- political reasons."

It takes a lot of chutzpah to stonewall -- and then blame the investigators for a delay.

There's much more to talk about, including Bush's astonishing historical revisionism ("The Middle East looked nice and cozy for a while," he said, describing the period before 9/11) but we'll leave the rest for tomorrow.

Now back to today's previously scheduled column.

Bush Plot Backfires

Bush spoke yesterday at commencement exercises for the Coast Guard Academy. Here's the transcript.

Josh Meyer and Johanna Neuman write in the Los Angeles Times: "'I've often warned that if we fail in Iraq, the enemy will follow us home. Many ask, how do you know? Today, I'd like to share some information with you that attests to Al Qaeda's intentions,' Bush told the graduating cadets.

"He went on to list a series of plots, all previously described by U.S. authorities, and offered what he said was new information about the Bin Laden directive to [Iraq-based Abu Musab] Zarqawi. Bush did not say Wednesday whether the alleged cell ever became operational and, if so, what kind of plots it envisioned.

"But several lawmakers and counter-terrorism officials said they knew of no instances in which Zarqawi-led operatives had succeeded in entering the United States.

"'I've learned to be a little bit skeptical of the initial comments of the president on these things,' said Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's terrorism subpanel. 'As the information comes out, we'll have to drill down to learn more about the specific threat -- whether there was anything to it, if there are any specifics.'