Bush Gets Outraged

President Bush reserved his most outraged tone at a White House press conference this morning for Democratic leaders whose misplaced allegiances, he said, prevented them from sufficiently denouncing a MoveOn.org ad that criticized Gen. David Petraeus.

Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq who spent much of last week touting rosy scenarios in Iraq and hawking the administration's stay-the-course plan, has become the most political of figures. And Bush has acknowledged that he is using the general to get out a message that the public wouldn't believe if it was coming from him. (Just yesterday, Bush told a group of conservative columnists: "People listen to Petraeus, not to me.")

Nevertheless, Bush insisted today that he considered an attack on Petraeus to be an attack on the troops. And he was scathing in his criticism of Democrats, only some of whom have publicly denounced the ad.

Moveon's full-page ad in the New York Times last week was headlined "General Petraeus or General Betray Us?" and accused Petraeus of "cooking the books for the White House."

"I thought that the ad was disgusting," Bush told reporters. "I felt like the ad was an attack, not only on General Petraeus, but on the U.S. military. And I was disappointed that not more leaders in the Democrat [sic] Party spoke out strongly against that kind of ad.

"That leads me to come to this conclusion: that most Democrats are afraid of irritating a left-wing group like MoveOn.org -- are more afraid of irritating them than they are of irritating the United States military."

But how did a newspaper advertisement, of all things, become such a hot topic in the political discourse about the war? The answer: Republicans in Washington see it as a winning issue.

That's the case even though there were legitimate concerns expressed about Petraeus's selective use of statistics both before and after his testimony; even though a Washington Post poll before his testimony showed most Americans expected him to try to make things look better than they are; and even though the newest polls clearly show the public didn't buy what Petraeus was selling.

Here's two fantasy follow-up questions for Bush: If you make a general your political standard-bearer, don't your political enemies get to take aim? And is it possible Democrats were reserving their outrage for issues other than a political ad?

A Partisan Morning

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Bush kicked off the news conference with a blistering attack against a bipartisan bill that would provide four million uninsured children with health insurance.

Although the bill enjoys considerable support from Republicans in Congress, Bush accused Democrats of "putting poor children at risk so they can score political points in Washington." Bush again promised to veto the bill, which he called "an incremental step toward the goal of government-run health care for every American."

And Bush denied that he is a liability for Republican candidates in 2008, laying out what he called a winning platform for the GOP: "Candidates who go out and say that the United States is vulnerable to attack and we're going to make sure our professionals have the tools necessary to protect us are going to do well. Candidates who go out and say that helping these Iraqis realize the benefits of democracy are going to do well. Candidates who go out and say that it's very important for the United States to have clear principles when it comes to foreign policy, they'll do well. Candidates who say we're not going to raise your taxes will do well."