While Bush Fiddled

"'We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change,' McCain said while campaigning with running mate Sarah Palin. 'The hour is late; our troubles are getting worse; our enemies watch. We have to act immediately. We have to change direction now.'"

Foon Rhee blogs for the Boston Globe that the Democratic National Committee responded "with a web video trying again to link McCain to what polls shows is one of the most unpopular presidents in history. . . .

"McCain is . . . shown at the 2004 Republican convention imploring, 'Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. We're Americans and we'll never surrender.'"

Iraq Watch

Karen DeYoung writes in The Washington Post: "With time running out for the conclusion of an agreement governing American forces in Iraq, nervous negotiators have begun examining alternatives that would allow U.S. troops to stay beyond the Dec. 31 deadline, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. . . .

"[E]ven if the sides reach a deal in the next few days or weeks, it is not clear that a formal status-of-forces agreement could be approved by the end of the year. Maliki has pledged to submit an accord to Iraq's divided parliament before he signs it -- a promise he reaffirmed last week during a visit to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric. Sistani has said he will not endorse any document without the support of Iraq's population and political factions.

"If the parliament refuses, Maliki would have 'no choice' but to request a U.N. extension 'because the American forces will lose their legal cover on Dec. 31,' he told the Times of London in a weekend interview. 'If that happens, according to international law, Iraqi law and American law, the U.S. forces will be confined to their bases and have to withdraw from Iraq,' Maliki said. . . .

"The Iraqi prime minister in August twice assured Bush -- once personally via videoconference and again through Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a visit to Baghdad -- that the deal was done, Iraqi and U.S. officials said."

Leila Fadel writes for McClatchy Newspapers that "an accord is unlikely before the end of this year, Iraq's Sunni Muslim vice president said Monday." Vice President Tariq al Hashimi "also warned that the security situation could worsen by the end if 2008, due to upcoming provincial elections and an unsure future for a U.S. sponsored mostly Sunni paramilitary groups

"Among the signs of increased violence is that al Qaida in Iraq, whose attacks dropped over the past year, is growing stronger as frustrations in the Sunni community fester, he said. That's mostly due to the Iraqi government's reluctance to absorb the more than 100,000-strong U.S. sponsored mostly Sunni paramilitary into government jobs and the Iraqi Security Forces, he said."

Peter W. Galbraith writes in the New York Review of Books: "Less violence . . . is not the same thing as success. The United States did not go to war in Iraq for the purpose of ending violence between contending sectarian forces. Success has to be measured against US objectives. John McCain proclaims his goal to be victory and says we are now winning in Iraq (a victory that will, of course, be lost if his allegedly pro-surrender opponent wins). He considers victory to be an Iraq that is 'a democratic ally.' George W. Bush has defined victory as a unified, democratic, and stable Iraq. Neither man has explained how he will transform Iraq's ruling theocrats into democrats, diminish Iran's vast influence in Baghdad, or reconcile Kurds and Sunnis to Iraq's new order. Remarkably, neither the Democrats nor the press has challenged them to do so. . . .

"George W. Bush has put the United States on the side of undemocratic Iraqis who are Iran's allies. John McCain would continue the same approach. It is hard to understand how this can be called a success -- or a path to victory."

Bush and Berlusconi

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was feted at the White House yesterday.

Dan Eggen writes for The Washington Post: "The fast friendship between Bush and Berlusconi was on full display during their brief press appearance, where they showered each other with accolades. Berlusconi talked about his 'love and esteem' for Bush and praised his 'sincere and pure feelings,' according to an English translation of his remarks.

"'He is a man of vision, he is an idealist,' Berlusconi said. 'He also has the courage of implementing what he believes is right.'"

Jeff Israely writes for Time: "George W. Bush's approval ratings are so low that you can almost picture the First Dog, Barney, barely able to muster a single wag of his pointy black tail when the Commander-in-Chief strides into the White House living room. So it seemed auspicious that rolling up to the South Lawn on Monday was the man who might just be President Bush's Last Best Friend on Earth. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived in Washington just in time for Columbus Day, and just in time to say what almost no other political figure would venture to say out loud right now: 'I'm 100% sure and positive that history will say that George W. Bush has been a great, very great President of the United States of America.'"

Deb Riechmann writes for the Associated Press from last night's White House dinner: "In his haste to honor Bush, Berlusconi accidentally bumped the podium from which he was speaking in the crowded dining room. It fell apart, leaving the grinning Italian to advance on the president with just its top and attached microphones. The crowd of prominent Americans, Italians, and Italian-Americans burst into appreciative laughter and applause.

"'I'm 100 percent confident that we'll be friends forever,' Berlusconi said."

Here's the video and the transcript.

Executive Power Watch

Henry Waxman's Oversight and Government Reform Committee is just out with a bipartisan report that finds that Bush made a "legally unprecedented and an inappropriate use of executive privilege" when he directed Attorney General Michael Mukasey to withhold special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's interview of Vice President Cheney from the committee.

For background, see my Dec. 3 column, Bush Blocking Fitzgerald Cooperation, and my July 17 column, Mukasey the Obstructionist.

More tomorrow.

Karl Rove Watch

Mark Leibovich writes in the New York Times that Karl Rove "left the Bush administration 13 months ago, yet continues to loom over a campaign that has become the backdrop for his post-White House reinvention. . . .

"Mr. Rove's lingering impact, perceived power and even his bogyman status continue to place him in great demand, forming the basis of his lucrative post-White House career as a reported seven-figure author, six-figure television commentator and mid-five-figure speaker. . . .

"Two top McCain campaign aides, Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace, worked closely with Mr. Rove in the White House and are commonly referred to as 'Rove protégés,' a designation that both dispute. Mr. McCain's top advisers shudder at the perception that Mr. Rove is calling shots for their campaign -- in part because his reputation is toxic among many swing voters, and perhaps the best-known victim of 'Rovian' hardball tactics was Mr. McCain himself in the 2000 Republican primary campaign."

Matt Taibbi writes about Rove in Rolling Stone: "His rise from the ashes is the scariest story of an already scary campaign season. Presidents come and go; they sit in a place where the law can still touch them, and they're subject to the vote once every four years. But Karl Rove is a revolutionary, a man who can't be stopped by anything except death and maybe -- maybe -- prison. Rove is trying to finish the work of Nixon and Bush: to achieve the supremacy of a peculiarly American form of Leninism, one that involves the drowning of the electoral process in idiot witch hunts and dirty tricks, the handing over of all policy to anyone with a dollar more than the next guy, and the total aggrandizement of incumbent power at the expense of an entire system of checks and balances. With Rove back in the mix, there's now a hell of a lot more at stake this November than there was when a batty, battle-scarred old poll-chaser like John McCain was the darkest figure on the ticket. Not to sound too alarmist, but Election Day now becomes a referendum on democracy itself."

The Sad Lot of the White House Correspondent

Rick Dunham of the Houston Chronicle filed a pool report about a "brief, bizarre" photo op at the International Monetary Fund on Saturday: "Ten -- count 'em, ten -- seconds after we were ushered in, we were ordered to leave. The whole thing was over in exactly 14 seconds, according to the count of the photo pool. . . .

"Finance ministers from the other countries looked alternately horrified and amused at the hubbub. The President gave one of his mischievous smiles."

Late Night Humor

Via U.S. News, David Letterman: "President Bush 'says he's going to tweak the financial package. . . . That's like the captain of the Titanic tweaking the brunch menu.' . . . Bush 'is trying to reassure Americans that things are going to get better soon. And I was thinking well sure, in three months he'll be out of office.'"

And Conan O'Brien: "This weekend, the leaders of the world's richest countries got together to discuss the global economic meltdown. . . . President Bush wanted to go to the meeting, but after last week the US is no longer one of the world's richest countries."

Cartoon Watch

Jim Morin on fear itself, Pat Bagley on how Bush happens, J.D. Crowe on Bush's pep talks, Steve Sack on Bush's retirement plan, David Horsey on Team Bush, Dwane Powell on Bushland, John Sherffius on Bush and nukes, Mike Keefe on going back to the Rovian barrel and Rex Babin on the everlasting hug.