Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (468716)	10/1/2003 3:09:07 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 769670

Chinks in Bush's armour revealed By Jonathan Marcus BBC defence correspondent The White House has denied that a senior adviser to President George W Bush disclosed the identity of an undercover Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer in an attempt to punish her husband who had criticised intelligence relating to Iraq. But with Democrats demanding an independent investigation of the whole affair it only serves to highlight the president's growing vulnerability. Iraq, the economy and the dynamics of the Democratic Party all serve to underscore the president's problems, making him a man who could be beaten in 2004. Mr Bush is building a mighty war chest to fight the next presidential election. He will be able to outspend his opponents many times over. Battle ahead Nevertheless, even in Republican circles there is a growing glimmer of unease - a sense that the president is becoming more embattled as the election campaign comes closer. With jobs still being lost, almost daily casualties in Iraq and the possibility, at least, that the Democrats might select a potential winner, next year's presidential race is moving from the dead certainty of a second Bush victory into a battle that Mr Bush may have to fight hard to win. Last Thursday evening, at a dinner in New York, I listened to the Democratic candidates who hope to contest the presidency in 2004. All eyes were on the newest runner - former general Wesley Clark. Anticipation mounted. And a few moments into the general's speech there was an almost audible sigh of relief from the hundreds of party faithful in the audience. That sigh said one thing - here was a man who could indeed beat Mr Bush in the presidential race. Flawed strategy Mr Clark's strongest card is his military background - an immunisation against the now commonplace assertion that the Democrats are somehow weak on national security and defence. But Mr Clark's opportunity is born out of the president's very real problems. This latest row over the alleged naming of an undercover CIA operative goes to the heart of the Bush machine - it is Karl Rove, his strategic master-mind who, it is claimed, was at fault. The whole episode serves yet again to highlight the problem of intelligence interpretation prior to the Iraq war. And, as the death toll mounts in Iraq and reserve servicemen and women face ever longer tours of duty, it is a problem that will not go away.