Warnings of Chaos Ignored

"'They are a threat to your children, David,' he advised NBC's David Gregory.

"'It's a danger to your children, Jim,' Bush informed the New York Times' Jim Rutenberg.

"This last warning was perplexing, because Rutenberg has no children, only a brown chow chow named Little Bear. It was unclear whether Bush was referring to a specific and credible threat to Little Bear or merely indicating there was increased 'chatter in the system' about chow chows in general."

A Possible Contradiction

ABC News's Martha Raddatz exposed a possible contradiction in Bush's views about Iraq.

"Q Thank you, Mr. President. You say you want nothing short of victory, that leaving Iraq would be catastrophic; you once again mentioned al Qaeda. Does that mean that you are willing to leave American troops there, no matter what the Iraqi government does? I know this is a question we've asked before, but you can begin it with a 'yes' or 'no.'

"THE PRESIDENT: We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government. This is a sovereign nation. Twelve million people went to the polls to approve a constitution. It's their government's choice. If they were to say, leave, we would leave.

"Q -- catastrophic, as you've said over and over again?

"THE PRESIDENT: I would hope that they would recognize that the results would be catastrophic. This is a sovereign nation, Martha. We are there at their request. And hopefully the Iraqi government would be wise enough to recognize that without coalition troops, the U.S. troops, that they would endanger their very existence. And it's why we work very closely with them, to make sure that the realities are such that they wouldn't make that request -- but if they were to make the request, we wouldn't be there."

Iraq's current leadership -- dependent on American troops for its power -- shows no signs of asking the U.S. to leave. But as for the Iraqi public -- and even, according to recent reports, the Parliament -- that may be a different story.

Why Such Short Notice?

I pointed out in yesterday's column that the White House gave reporters less than two hours' notice of the conference.

Julie Mason blogs for the Houston Chronicle: "They give short notice on purpose -- Bush really hates long, pompous questions and he feels if he gives us too much lead time, we will go rancidly thespian and grandiose at his press conferences. He's probably right."

They Won't Follow Us Home

Jeff Greenfield reported for CBS News: "It is the key premise behind the president's Iraq approach: That we fight them there so that we will not fight them here. . . . But is it a legitimate fear? Would the people fighting U.S. forces in Iraq somehow find their way to our shores?"