More of the never ending political posturing...

First of all, Democrats and Republicans can't seem to agree if the President's speech on September 11th was partisan or not. I have to say it did not exactly seem to be non-partisan.

So of course:

But the speech, Reid charged, was partisan, meant only for his administration. Bush did not speak for the nation, Reid said, unlike the time the president stood on the rubble of the World Trade Center five years ago and used a bullhorn to promise a quick response to the September 11 attacks.

"No bullhorn, only the bully pulpit of his office, which he used to defend an unpopular war in Iraq and to launch clumsily disguised barbs at those who disagree with his policies there," Reid said.

"By focusing on Iraq in the manner he did, the president engaged in an all-too-familiar administration tactic: conflate and blur the war in Iraq with the response to 9/11," he added.

Ohio's own John Boehner fires back with a comment that has created even more controversy:

"I listen to the questions today and I listen to my Democrat friends, and I wonder if they are more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people," House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said "The fact is, these people want to kill Americans -- they have killed Americans. And if we do not go after them and defeat them they are going to continue to kill and injure more Americans."

Rick Santorum - chastising Democrats for playing politics while of course playing politics on his own:

"The president did not give a political speech last night," he said. "He spoke of the reality of the conflict that is before us. It is not popular to do so, I know. It is not popular to stand up and support a conflict that is difficult ... to deal with every day."

This additional CNN article raises a good point:

"For Republicans, if you're out there running a campaign the central focus of which is 'Democrats are traitors,' it's going to be a little bit difficult to get them to support you on almost anything else," said political analyst Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute.

It's going to get worse before November, and then continue to ramp up during the Presidential race. I don't know if we should feel reassured that:

A majority of Americans find a distinction between the war in Iraq and the War on Terror, according to a CBS/New York Times poll. The poll found that 51 percent don't think there is a link between Iraq and the War on Terror, and 50 percent think Bush is spending too much time on Iraq instead of focusing on other threats.

Or if we should be worried that there are 49% who think there is a link between Iraq and the war on terror and 50% who don't think Bush is spending too much time on Iraq.

:-)