US: In A furious Senate speech, US Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle yesterday accused Mr George Bush of an "outrageous" slur on Democrats, and demanded an apology from President Bush for "politicising" the war on terror.
Senator Daschle and fellow-Democrats in Congress were infuriated by Mr Bush's charge in a campaign speech that the Democrat-controlled Senate is "not interested in the security of the American people." With only six weeks to mid-term elections that could determine which party controls the Senate and House of Representatives, the accusation by Mr Bush, made during a fund-raising trip to Trenton, New Jersey, could be enormously damaging to the Democratic Party.
It could rebound on Mr Bush as he seeks bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for a resolution authorising him to use force against Iraq, but by focusing on possible war, the Republican Party leadership has already succeeded in taking US voters minds off the flagging economy and corporate fraud.
A new Gallup poll has found that by a margin of 49-41, voters are now more concerned about Iraq than the state of the economy, a 16-point shift in attitudes from early September.
Mr Daschle protested that Mr Bush's remark, made in the context of Democratic opposition to a homeland security measure, was "wrong", and he should apologise to the American people.
"We ought not politicise the rhetoric about war and life and death," he told the Senate, his voice hoarse and quivering with fury. "You tell those who fought in Vietnam and World War II they are not interested in the security of the American people. That is outrageous. Outrageous."
Making the hurt even deeper for Mr Daschle, he and other leading Democrats in Congress had earlier signalled support for quickly passing a resolution submitted by the White House seeking authority for the President to use whatever means necessary to deal with Iraq.
A prominent House Republican, Mr Henry Hyde, has offered a compromise proposal that made clear any use of force to restore regional security should come in conjunction with UN resolutions.
Republican Minority Leader Trent Lott said Mr Daschle needed to "cool the rhetoric." "Accusations of that kind are not helpful," he said.
Mr Bush's charge against Democrats came as he and Vice-President Dick Cheney increasingly raise the possibility of war in speeches on the campaign trail.
Democratic suspicions stem from advice to Republicans earlier this year from senior White House adviser Karl Rove (in a mislaid Republican CD) to focus on war in their campaigning. Republican strategists believe that their party does better when voters are focused on national security issues.
President Bush is simultaneously working to get agreement for a new UN Security Council resolution forcing Iraq to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.
US demands for the inclusion of "regime change" as a goal have reportedly met with resistance from London, which would prefer to concentrate on disarmament, and the Russian and French governments say a new resolution is not necessary for weapons inspectors to return to Baghdad.
Mr Tony Blair's denunciation of Iraq was widely praised in the US media yesterday.
The Wall Street Journal called the UK Prime Minister's case a "rebuttal" of the charge levelled by former Vice-President Al Gore, in a speech on Tuesday, that Iraq was "a politically-motivated distraction from the real war on terror".