This administration has done a horrible job of PR on every issue. They seem to be afraid to confront the press and the Democrats head on, on any issue. It drives me crazy.
My husband does the same thing when we disagree. He just says, "You're right," and walks away. You know you didn't win, and he doesn't really agree, he just refuses to argue the point. Or, he'll say, I'll think about it, but you know he won't.
In this case though, the Bush administration should know that kind of answer won't end the issue. It will only empower the Democrats, just the way Clinton empowered the terrorists by not facing up to the threat.
On that one I have to agree, particularly with the failure to put a fatwa (symbolically, of course, like Rushdie) on the head of the admittedly clever liberal journalist who came up with the idea that we were supposed to produce "X" ammount of WMD stockpiles for the inspection of critics who would never be happy with less than a large conspicuous warehouse with pallets stacked to the ceiling stenciled in bright color, "Saddam's WMD". Without it, the war is without justification. Yeah.
Why didn't Rummy come out and say "so damn what? Saddam at this point is a convicted murderer on parole, who refused to keep promises he signed to keep in the cease fire. Do we lock up murder weapons and allow murderers to roam free?"
Instead they played into their hands with the "I KNOW they are over here somewhere!".....
In the end it isn't bumbling so much as being naive that
Saddam being an ******* was good enough for Americans to get behind.
Maybe it's the sign of the times that since Vietnam when America goes to war your greatest threat from the scurrilous evils of the enemy's offensive thrusts is from your flanks.