The bullying, thin-skinned Bush White House.

Don BUSH HAS PERSONALIZED this war to such an extreme that even if American forces take over all of Iraq and find weapons of mass destruction, the war will not be judged a success unless Saddam is captured or his body is found. It’s a Bush family trait to turn everything into a grudge match. Anybody who crosses Bush gets the treatment. During last fall’s congressional races, Republican operatives likened Democratic leader Tom Daschle to Saddam Hussein because he stood in the way of passing Bush’s legislation. Daschle is again in the crossfire for criticizing Bush’s failure to resolve the impasse over Iraq with diplomacy.
The White House slapped down Daschle and implied he was unpatriotic. “France has a better chance of getting back in Bush’s good graces,” said one official. He called Daschle’s comment “passive-aggressive B.S.” and mused that the senator’s anger might stem from second thoughts over his decision not to run for president. What so offended Bush and his minions was Daschle saying he was “saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn’t create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country.”
“He was saying people are going to die because the president couldn’t get his act together,” fumed the White House official. “Blatant partisan guerilla warfare is fine on taxes and Social Security, but on this one, couldn’t he just save it?” West Virginia octogenarian Robert Byrd who rails against the war on the Senate floor doesn’t offend as much because Byrd couches his criticism in a mannerly history lesson about the Constitution. Daschle’s sniping gets under Bush’s skin. “He has an amazing ability to double deal,” says a White House aide. “He’s so nice in meetings; then he goes out and nails us.”