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President Bush has been scrambling to rescue his Iran policy after this week's intelligence switcheroo, but the fact that the White House has had to spin so furiously is a sign of how badly it has bungled this episode. In sum, Mr. Bush and his staff have allowed the intelligence bureaucracy to frame a new judgment in a way that has undermined four years of U.S. effort to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions. This kind of national security mismanagement has bedeviled the Bush Presidency. Recall the internal disputes over post-invasion Iraq, the smearing of Ahmad Chalabi by the State Department and...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House on Thursday defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi against Republican criticism that her desire to fly in an Air Force transport plane is an extravagance. "This is a silly story and I think it's been unfair to the speaker," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

The other day, the American people saw George W. Bush once again addressing his critics in connection with the NSA’s surveillance program . Despite the fact that he has been accused of the worst of possible motives – of willfully and deliberately breaking the law to spy on his fellow citizens – the President tackled this and other gratuitous charges without a trace of anger or bitterness. A relative few presidents in this country’s history have endured the kind of vicious and spurious attacks that have been leveled against George Bush. Completely abandoning any sense of decorum or statesmanship, some...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A chastened Arnold Schwarzenegger took the blame for his election day drubbing and said on Thursday he would heed the voters' message and work closely with Democrats to solve California's problems. The California governor, looking tired, held one of his infrequent news conferences after voters rejected all eight initiatives offered on Tuesday in a special election he called to advance what he called "the year of reform." "If I would do another 'Terminator' movie I would have Terminator travel back in time and tell Arnold not to have a special election," the former action film star...

With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff For the story behind the story... Thursday, Sept. 22, 2005 11:15 p.m. EDTPresident Bush: Bill Clinton Soft on Terror President Bush fired back at ex-president Clinton on Thursday, saying his weak response to repeated terrorist attacks on U.S. interests during the 1990s encouraged al Qaida to launch the 9/11 attacks. "The terrorists saw our response to the hostage crisis in Iran, the bombings in the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the first World Trade Center attack, the killing of American soldiers in Somalia, the destruction of two U.S. embassies in Africa and the attack...

Fox News' "Special Debate Coverage," 10/13/04 FOX NEWS’ SEAN HANNITY: “Why don't you condemn Dennis Kucinich when he says the President’s targeting civilians for assassination? We’re at war and your party has politicized the war, and your party has said false things about the President. Your party has called the President a liar every day. And I think as a leader you ought to say, if you want to change the tone of Washington it's going to start with me.”  DNC CHAIR TERRY MCAULIFFE: “No, no. Let's change George Bush and get this country moving in the right direction.”  HANNITY:...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's sky-high popularity dropped as division deepened over a budget stalemate dominated by partisan politics, according to a poll released Thursday. Schwarzenegger, who enjoyed near-record performance ratings two months ago, received approval from 57 percent of Californians in a survey from the Public Policy Institute - a fall of 7 percentage points since the group's poll in taken in May. While his approval numbers remained high, the survey found most of the drop came among Democrats and independent voters - two groups that had been most enthusiastic about Schwarzenegger's efforts to remain above the partisan...

If it were not for his fondness for tax cuts, and his pursuit, however flawed, of the ongoing war on terror, I can't for the life of me think of a good reason to vote for George Bush this November.  OK .. The Poodle's name on the ballot would be a fairly good reason .. though I'm not sure reason enough. You've probably heard by now, but George Bush has once again managed the nearly impossible physical feat of handing his head to the Democrats ... again. He gave up; ran for the hills; threw in the towel; bailed. Tragically,...

Unscripted Kerry calls GOP liars Tribune to My Yahoo! By Jill Zuckman and Jeff Zeleny Tribune national correspondents Seemingly unaware that his microphone was still on, Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) used uncharacteristically harsh language Wednesday to describe Republicans as "crooked" and "lying" during a quiet exchange with several workers at the Hill Mechanical Group in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood. As one worker urged Kerry to "tell it like it is" and to "keep smiling," the presumptive Democratic nominee told the man not to worry. "We're going to keep pounding, let me tell you. We're just beginning to fight...

Linda Chavez (back to web version) | Send October 1, 2003 Democrats are salivating at the prospect they may be able to cut short another Bush presidency. "He's got the same gene pool as his father," Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) recently smirked to the Washington Post. Although it's a little premature for the Democrats to be ordering tuxes and gowns for their Inaugural Ball, President Bush may be in more trouble than his advisors are willing to concede. Like his father, George W. Bush faces a mostly hostile press, out to prove that the economy is in the toilet and...

Congressional leaders met over breakfast with President Bush (news - web sites) on Thursday and declared their support of the White House mission in the Middle East, though Democrats said they need to be consulted more often about the crisis. "Americans support Israel, realize Israel is involved in a fight against terrorism and we will always be there for Israel, but we also have to be a force for peace," House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said after the session. "To do that, we've got to be together with the administration ... to try to get this done and that...