The new tone approach was a disaster, leaving a void in political discourse the left drove several trucks through. Rove is finally getting around to accepting my criticism of W.
:-)
There's where the debate is, Lakeshark.
President Bush defended his Iraq strategy in countless speeches and statements, but it was only heard by those of us who were looking and listening.
While it is definitely arguable that Bush should have fought back harder (I certainly wanted him to), I don't think that his doing so would have overcome the media-culture-political leftists' incessant, screaming lies.
Perhaps it really was best for him to just stay strong and WIN the war, and let history be the judge. I'm pretty sure that's what he still thinks.