The NY Times writes:

To avoid having to account for his administration’s misleading statements before the war with Iraq, President Bush has tried denial, saying he did not skew the intelligence. He’s tried to share the blame, claiming that Congress had the same intelligence he had, as well as President Bill Clinton. He’s tried to pass the buck and blame the C.I.A. Lately, he’s gone on the attack, accusing Democrats in Congress of aiding the terrorists…

It’s hard to imagine what Mr. Bush means when he says everyone reached the same conclusion. There was indeed a widespread belief that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons. But Mr. Clinton looked at the data and concluded that inspections and pressure were working – a view we now know was accurate.

What Mr. Clinton actually concluded may be seen in the video here.

confesses Point Five who observes:

Senate Demonstrates Republican “Big Tent” Large Enough For Anti-War Left.

They have not reformed taxes. They have not reduced federal spending. They have not repaired Social Security. And they are starting to crawfish on the War on Terrror. We may soon lose control of Congress, and when we do, will we really care?

Maybe we can get Ronnie Earle to indict a few more members of the useless, worthless, and invertebrate Republican Congressional leadership which has frittered away the historic opportunity to produce change afforded by the electoral victories of 2004 through lack of principle and sheer cowardice. What do we need democrats for, when we have the so-called Republicans we have?

It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Conservative Movement has gotten ahead of itself. We have learned how to win elections, but in too many cases we are just electing the same bloviators and opportunists as the democrats. I’m afraid it’s back to drawing-boards again for Conservatism. It’s not just about winning elections, and securing Congressional majorities. We are going to need to be a lot more certain about whom we are electing.

Republican Party video . (Hat tip to Glenn Reynolds.)

Today at Elemendorf Air Force Base, the president concluded his speech:

Reasonable people can disagree about the conduct of the war, but it is irresponsible for Democrats to now claim that we misled them and the American people. Leaders in my administration and members of the United States Congress from both political parties looked at the same intelligence on Iraq, and reached the same conclusion: Saddam Hussein was a threat.

Let me give you some quotes from three senior Democrat leaders: First, and I quote, “There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons.” Another senior Democrat leader said, “The war against terrorism will not be finished as long as Saddam Hussein is in power.” Here’s another quote from a senior Democrat leader: “Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think the President is approaching this in the right fashion.”

They spoke the truth then, and they’re speaking politics now. (Applause.)

Dr. Sanity discusses Bush Derangement Syndrome, a problem whose tragic impact I see daily on my college class listserv.

The CIA has requested the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation as to the source of last Wednesday’s Washing Post article alleging the existence of secret prisons housing Islamic terrorists in Eastern Europe.

AND

White House promises counter-offensive of campaign-style strategy against democrat attacks.

In the post-1960s, Vermont, renowned in earlier times for laconic Yankee individualists, became a favored refuge for counter-cultural escapees from more densely populated states located to its south. Today, Vermont is more commonly identified with Ben & Jerry than Calvin Coolidge, and native Vermonters, derisively referred to as “chucks” (as in woodchuck), are regularly outvoted by recent immigrants, spoken of pejoratively in Vermont as “flatlanders.” The once most paradigmatically Republican state in the Union is currently represented in Congress by an Independent self-acknowledged socialist. Carried away by animosity toward the current administration in Washington, a portion of the Vermont flatlander population is talking secession.

‘Vermont still provides a communitarian alternative to the dehumanized mass production, mass consumption, narcissistic lifestyle which pervades most of the United States,” said Thomas Naylor, a former Duke University economics professor who retired to Vermont and has written a book called ”The Vermont Manifesto — The Second Vermont Republic.”

”Vermont is smaller, more rural, more democratic, less violent, less commercial, more egalitarian, and more independent than most states,” Naylor said. ”It offers itself as a kinder, gentler metaphor for a nation obsessed with money, power, size, speed, greed, and fear of terrorism.”