Bush Punches for Effect

President Bush came out swinging today during a fundraiser in Alabama, and is showing other Republicans how to frame the debate:

President Bush suggested Thursday that Democrats don't have the stomach to fight the war on terror, battling back in the election-season clamor over administration intelligence showing terrorism spreading.

"Five years after 9/11, the worst attack on the American homeland in our history, Democrats offer nothing but criticism and obstruction and endless second-guessing," Bush said at a Republican fundraiser.

"The party of FDR and the party of Harry Truman has become the party of cut and run," Bush told a convention-center audience of over 2,000 people. The event put $2.5 million in the campaign accounts of Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and the state GOP.

And right on cue, 34 Dem Senators and something like 160 Dem House members voted against the Detainee Interrogation Bill because it didn't give enough rights to terrorists. The Dem speeches were classics, and if you get a chance to hear Pat Leahy's diatribe, don't miss it. It's golden oldie lefty (Hugh Hewitt or Radioblogger might have a link to it).

Although there isn't a Newt Gingrich to run around and set a national agenda as he did in 1994, and the Dems have decided not to set any agenda this year, Bush has taken it upon himself to nationalize the election by making it the party of victory versus the party of cut-and-run. that has potential to make a difference in November.