Warnings of Chaos Ignored

To answer the question, Greenfield quoted several experts who said Bush is wrong, including James Jay Carafano of Heritage Foundation, who told CBS: "The President is using a primitive, inarticulate argument that leaves him open to criticism and caricature."

Greenfield also noted: "The argument that we fight them there so we don't fight them here may have political clout, but it also represents a striking retreat from the original case for the war. . . . Instead of arguing for the good things that would happen if America were to act, the argument now seems to be based on the dreadful things that would happen if America leaves."

Bush's Big Win

Shailagh Murray writes in The Washington Post: "Congress sent President Bush a new Iraq funding bill yesterday that lacked troop withdrawal deadlines demanded by liberal Democrats, but party leaders vowed it was only a temporary setback in their efforts to bring home American troops.

"War opponents dismissed the bill as a capitulation to Bush and said they would seek to hold supporters in both parties accountable. But backers said the bill's provisions -- including benchmarks for progress that the Iraqi government must meet to continue receiving reconstruction aid -- represented an assertion of congressional authority over the war that was unthinkable a few months ago.

"Bush, who had vowed to veto any legislation with restrictions on troop deployments, announced he would sign the $120 billion package, which was approved 80 to 14 last night in the Senate, after a 280 to 142 House vote. . . .

"Bush's first report to Congress on the Iraqis' progress in meeting the benchmarks is due on July 15."

Iran Watch

Karen DeYoung writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush said yesterday that the administration will press the United Nations to adopt new, expanded sanctions against Iran, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran would 'never retreat even one step' from its nuclear enrichment program."

But as DeYoung wrote in The Post yesterday, there is "tension within the administration over how aggressively to respond to the continued Iranian defiance on a range of issues, including its nuclear program and support for international terrorism and violent insurgents in Iraq. Vice President Cheney's office and hard-liners on the National Security Council staff think the current carrot-and-stick strategy leans too far in the direction of carrots.

"'Standing two weeks ago aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, 150 miles off the Iranian coast, Cheney said he wanted to 'send a clear message to our friends and adversaries alike' that the administration will protect its interests and honor its commitments. Arab states have pressed for U.S. protection of oil supply routes. Yesterday, nine U.S. warships sailed through the Strait of Hormuz toward Iran to begin an unannounced exercise in international waters.

"'At the same time, the State Department recently succeeded in getting President Bush's authorization to hold direct talks with Tehran on the situation in Iraq -- something the president had repeatedly said he would not permit without a change in Tehran's behavior. The U.S. and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq are due to begin a dialogue in Baghdad on Monday.'"

Well-connected Washington blogger Steven C. Clemons has a much more alarming read on things: "There is a race currently underway between different flanks of the administration to determine the future course of US-Iran policy.

"On one flank are the diplomats, and on the other is Vice President Cheney's team and acolytes -- who populate quite a wide swath throughout the American national security bureaucracy."

Clemons writes: "Multiple sources have reported that a senior aide on Vice President Cheney's national security team has been . . . explicitly stating that Vice President Cheney does not support President Bush's tack towards Condoleezza Rice's diplomatic efforts and fears that the President is taking diplomacy with Iran too seriously.

"This White House official has stated to several Washington insiders that Cheney is planning to deploy an 'end run strategy' around the President if he and his team lose the policy argument.

"The thinking on Cheney's team is to collude with Israel, nudging Israel at some key moment in the ongoing standoff between Iran's nuclear activities and international frustration over this to mount a small-scale conventional strike against Natanz using cruise missiles (i.e., not ballistic missiles). . . .

"The zinger of this information is the admission by this Cheney aide that Cheney himself is frustrated with President Bush and believes, much like Richard Perle, that Bush is making a disastrous mistake by aligning himself with the policy course that Condoleezza Rice [and others] have sculpted.

"According to this official, Cheney believes that Bush can not be counted on to make the 'right decision' when it comes to dealing with Iran and thus Cheney believes that he must tie the President's hands."

Poll Watch

Bush seems to think that most Americans are opposed to a troop withdrawal from Iraq. "I recognize there are a handful there or some who just say, get out, it's just not worth it, let's just leave," he said yesterday. "I strongly disagree with that attitude. Most Americans do, as well."

But as Dalia Sussman writes in the New York Times: "Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time since the invasion more than four years ago, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

"Sixty-one percent of Americans say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq and 76 percent say things are going badly there, including 47 percent who say things are going very badly, the poll found. . . .

"Most Americans support a timetable for withdrawal. Sixty-three percent say the United States should set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq sometime in 2008.

"While troops are still in Iraq, Americans overwhelmingly support continuing to finance the war, though most want to do so with conditions. Thirteen percent want Congress to block all money for the war."

Sussman notes that "Bush's approval ratings remain near the lowest of his more than six years in office. Thirty percent approve of the job he is doing over all, while 63 percent disapprove."

Here are the results. Bush's rating on handling of foreign policy ties his all-time low of 25; his rating on Iraq is 23 percent. Dick Cheney's favorability rating is 13, an all-time low for that poll.

Showing just how disillusioned the public is about Bush, his rating on immigration is 27 percent -- even though, as Julia Preston and Marjorie Connelly write in the Times, "there is broad support among Americans -- Democrats, Republicans and independents alike -- for the major provisions in the legislation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll."

Gonzales Watch

David Johnston and Eric Lipton write in the New York Times: "President Bush said Thursday that he would correct any problems uncovered in the investigations of last year's dismissals of federal prosecutors, but he added that nothing had undermined his support for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales."

Meanwhile, Richard B. Schmitt writes in the Los Angeles Times: "The Justice Department has broadened an internal investigation into whether aides to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales improperly took into account political considerations in hiring employees, officials familiar with the probe said Thursday."

Editorial Watch

The Los Angeles Times writes that "the Bush administration has invited dark speculation with its shifting explanations of the dismissals and Gonzales' assertion that he was essentially AWOL in the process. That's why it remains vital that Karl Rove and former White House counsel Harriet E. Miers testify on the record before Congress about their involvement, if any, in the purge."

The Denver Post writes: "In an interesting moment in her testimony, Goodling said she heard about the potential firings in 2005 from Tim Griffin, who was then an aide to White House political adviser Karl Rove. She said Griffin told her he might get the chance to go home to Arkansas because some U.S. attorneys might be replaced. If the prosecutor who held the job in Little Rock, Bud Cummins, was one of them, perhaps Griffin would get that job. As it turns out, he did.

"Her account raises an important question: How could the White House aide have known that at that early date?

"It's a question that clearly leads to the White House and to Rove and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. It's high time they testified before Congress -- under oath and on the record -- about their roles in this festering scandal."

The Boston Globe writes: "Goodling, a former top aide to Gonzales, admitted in her testimony to Congress that she had 'crossed the line' in using the political backgrounds of applicants for lower-ranking positions in the department as a factor in hiring decisions. . . . The freedom she felt while serving under Gonzales to violate the no-politics law is a strong indication that Gonzales would not object if he got marching orders from a White House that was unhappy with some US attorneys' lack of political zeal.

"Congress should find out who issued those orders. A lack of cooperation from the White House has turned this inquiry into a game of Clue. If Congress confirms the list was compiled 'in the West Wing, with a pen,' it could force Bush to a housecleaning of his own."

The Houston Chronicle writes: "The more Justice Department officials and former officials testify before Congress, the dimmer the picture of the department's inner workings grows. . . .

"What would best serve the Justice Department, the administration and the nation is an honest account of how and why the U.S. attorneys came to be replaced. If no wrongdoing took place, as the president states, there is no reason for the administration to keep the facts from the public."

Wooing Democrats

Edwin Chen and Laura Litvan write for Bloomberg that Bush has suddenly started having members of the opposition over to the White House.

"Only 20 months before the end of his term, Bush has begun a cross-party charm offensive that many had expected at the dawn rather than the twilight of his presidency. His aim is to make bipartisan progress on a few big issues -- such as an overhaul of immigration laws -- before he leaves office. . . .

"Attendees typically gather in the Yellow Oval Room, an informal sitting and entertainment area that opens onto the Truman Balcony. Bush conducts some of the meetings after-hours, to foster bonhomie. . . .

"Bush now targets more Democrats than Republicans for private meetings, -- a departure from before, said Candida Wolff, the White House legislative-affairs director.

"Wolff said she and her staff typically choose guests with an eye toward the issues of the day. She wouldn't say how many sessions have taken place in recent months or identify the participants. 'Some people don't want it known that they've been down to the White House,' she said."

Cabinet Blues

Rich Miller and Kevin Carmichael write for Bloomberg: "U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson came to Washington with a Wall Street reputation for overcoming all obstacles in the way of a deal. He may have found the one hurdle he can't surmount: George W. Bush's damaged presidency.

"On issues ranging from defusing trade tensions with China to overhauling Social Security, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. chief executive officer is playing down the notion of breakthroughs. Instead, he's talking about laying foundations for his successors. . . .

"'It would be a tough time for any Treasury secretary,' said Glenn Hubbard, a former chief White House economist for Bush who's now dean of the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University in New York.'"

When Ex-Presidents Attack

Newsweek chronicles the "rich history of presidential catfights."

Bird Gets the Bush

Ann Compton reports for ABC News: "As President Bush took a question Thursday in the White House Rose Garden about scandals involving his Attorney General, he remarked, 'I've got confidence in Al Gonzales doin' the job.'

"Simultaneously, a sparrow flew overhead and left a splash on the President's sleeve, which Bush tried several times to wipe off."

Here's the video.