op-ed
Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD.
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September 20, 2004

Bob Novak's unnamed sources are at it again.

Well-placed sources in the administration are confident Bush's decision will be to get out. They believe that is the recommendation of his national security team and would be the recommendation of second-term officials. An informed guess might have Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, Paul Wolfowitz as defense secretary and Stephen Hadley as national security adviser. According to my sources, all would opt for a withdrawal.
[Quick exit from Iraq is likely - Chicago Sun-Times - 09-20-04]

Despite the White House's response to intelligence on the matter, has President Bush been pulling a "Baghdad Bob" on the American people when it comes to the "catastrophic success" that is our foreign policy?

And yet President Bush suggested all week that Iraq was firmly on the path to stability and democracy. On Friday he told a newspaper, "The Iraqis are defying the dire predictions of a lot of people by moving toward democracy....I'm pleased with the progress."

So was John Kerry right last week when he said Bush was living in "a fantasy world of spin"? Is the president really not so different from Baghdad Bob? Should he now be known as "D.C. Dubya"? Or "Baghdad Bush"?
[George W. Bush Meets "Baghdad Bob" - Editor & Publisher - 09-19-04]

As we pointed out here, Republican Senators want Bush to knock off the "Baghdad Bob" routine.

Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
"The fact is a crisp, sharp analysis of our policies is required. We didn't do that in Vietnam, and we saw 11 years of casualties mount to the point where we finally lost," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran who is co-chairman of President Bush's re-election committee in Nebraska. "We can't lose this. It is too important," Hagel, R-Neb., said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Senator John McCain (R-AZ)
"We made serious mistakes right after the initial successes by not having enough troops on the ground, by allowing the looting, by not securing the borders," McCain said.

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
The chairman, Sen. Richard Lugar, noted that Congress appropriated $18.4 billion a year ago this week for reconstruction. No more than $1 billion has been spent. "This is the incompetence in the administration," Lugar, R-Ind., said on ABC's "This Week."
[Senators Urge Bush to Assess Iraq Policy - AP - 09-20-04]