What's Bush's Big Secret?

"Mass exhalation."

Milbank's point: "It was about as close as Bush comes these days to making big news. Wrapping up his seventh year in office and unable to rise from his ratings slump, the president has run low on major announcements."

Bill Plante writes for CBS News that Bush's "real, unspoken, message was: Don't take me for a lame duck.

"With his approval rating hovering just above 30 percent -- and even lower on Iraq, the major issue of his presidency, Mr. Bush decided to play offense."

A Winner on the Hill

Noam N. Levey writes in the Los Angeles Times: "Slouching in a chair in his Capitol suite Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid made little show of hiding his frustration over the defeat of Democrats' latest bid to rein in the Iraq war.

"'The power of the White House was too much,' the Nevada Democrat said glumly. . . .

"And although Reid and other senior Democrats pledged to keep working on legislation to force an end to the 4 1/2 -year-old war, none offered any new ideas on how to outmaneuver a president who has derailed every effort this year challenging his wartime leadership."

The New York Times editorial board writes: "If you were one of the Americans waiting for Congress, under Democratic control, to show leadership on the war in Iraq, the message from the Senate is clear: 'Nevermind.' The same goes for those waiting for lawmakers to fix the damage done to civil liberties by six years of President Bush and a rubber-stamp Republican Congress.

"The Democrats don't have, or can't summon, the political strength to make sure Congress does what it is supposed to do: debate profound issues like these and take a stand."

Truthsquadding the President

William Powers writes in his National Journal column: "It goes without saying that the media should accurately report what the president says. But Bush's reliance on the talismanic phrase 'Al Qaeda' presents special challenges. . . .

"At the very least, any news story that mentions Al Qaeda in Iraq should note clearly and prominently that the connection between that group and September 11 is tenuous. This war was sold to the public through murky evidence and tricky language, and the news media were often the unwitting messenger. Our motto should be: Never again."

Myths and Facts

The White House has a new " Iraq Fact Check" out, responding to "key myths."