http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6363063/site/newsweek/WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek
Updated: Oct. 29, 2004
Oct. 29 - Bush pollster Matthew Dowd, unshaven and looking weary, met with print journalists Thursday for one last spin session. For the record, he thinks the president will win, but he sounded so unconvincing that halfway through the hourlong lunch, a reporter said, "OK, so the race is very close and one or the other will win."
When the laughter subsided, Dowd remembered his talking points and said a bit sheepishly, "The lead
is that the election is very close and President Bush is going to win."
Asked to name John Kerry's biggest mistake, Dowd cited the Democratic National Convention where Kerry left himself vulnerable to GOP caricatures by not talking about his Senate career in a positive way. But that was last summer's talking point and Dowd quickly caught himself. Kerry’s biggest mistake, Dowd said, warming to the subject, could turn out to be jumping on the story of the missing 380 tons of deadly explosives out of Iraq.
Bush says Kerry rushed to judgment before he had all the facts on this issue. This is from a president who rushed to war before he had all the facts. Bush is like a pyromaniac who returns to the scene of the crime. This is his fiasco, and it's smart for Kerry to hold Bush accountable. The failure to guard the aptly named Al Qaqaa is emblematic of everything Bush is doing wrong. The administration clearly didn't send enough troops, and now 380 tons of the most dangerous munitions are out there for possible use against U.S. troops.
<more>