What's This? What's This? Bush Questioning Hard Line on Iraq?

Tennessean

Apparently, Bush is tired of taking it on the chin.

The officials said Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, was concerned about new polls that suggest sinking support for the president's handling of Iraq.

Rove also is worried about a potential schism between traditional Republican conservatives wary of spending huge sums in Iraq and neoconservatives who want to remake not only Iraq but also Iran, Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. Even some of Bush's strong support from military families appears to be ebbing, one official said, as overseas tours are extended and casualties mount.

''The election is still ours to lose,'' one senior official told Knight Ridder. ''What's new is that some people now see ways we could do that, even against this field of Democrats."

So that's what's behind Bush's recent admission of no Iraq-9/11 connection. This is starting to sound like Ditch Lott 2: The Veep.