PRESIDENT BUSH MET with ten or so columnists Wednesday afternoon for over an hour, answering questions on a wide variety of topics. Much of what the president said was, naturally, familiar; and some of his most interesting comments and reflections he put off-the-record. But there was at least one on-the-record answer by the president that should make news. For the first time, President Bush weighed in on the debate over the MoveOn.org ad that accused Gen. Petraeus of “cooking the books” and “betray[ing] us,” chastising Democrats for their failure to condemn the ad.
The president had been discussing the battle over the legislation re-authorizing the terrorist wiretapping program. One of the columnists noted, “But Jane Harman says that Mike McConnell [the Director of National Intelligence] is political; the same way the Democrats have been portraying Petraeus….” The President jumped in, seeming to welcome the opportunity to address the attack of Gen. Petraeus:
