Interesting. Today's speech by Bush is being played differently around the press. The NYT piece leads with Bush, Conceding Problems, Defends Iraq War, while William Douglass of the Knight Ridder syndicate runs, Bush accuses Iran of giving explosives to Iraqi insurgents, with the sub-title, "speech challenges oppposition to war."

I saw the Iran claim in the NY Post today while getting my Chinese food. Played up that Bush vowed to "rally the world to confront Tehran" and claimed material for IEDs (the roadside bombs that have caused the most US casualties) is coming from Iran. Seems sorta hoky and transparent to me.

Let's take a short trip in the way-back machine. Didn't we fail utterly to secure arms caches in the post-invasion chaos? Oh yeah, that's right.

In most accounts of insurgent activity I've read, IEDs are usually re-wired artillery shells and the like, which would seem to support the idea that they are the re-purposed remains of Iraq's conventional arsinal, not high explosives smuggled from Iran.

Bush's popularity is the lowest of anyone since Nixon in his final hours, and here he is trying to whip up more war fever. Ain't gonna work.

Democrats should begin embracing the twin issues of Redeployment and Energy Independence and stake that ground out before conservatives do.