Pushing Partisanship Too Far.

In his speech on Monday, President George W. Bush invoked the memory of September 11, 2001, to defend the war in Iraq,. As much as the president has been politicizing the moment, but the democrats have certainly not avoided partisanship on the issue either.

But clearly the worst form of politization of the issue is when the Republicans get on the defensive by accusing critics to support the terrorists.

Yesterday, Representative John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, and no less than the majority leader, said this of the Democrats,

“I wonder if they’re more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people.” (NYTimes)

On the one hand, the democrats [and Senator Kennedy] are right when they say the president used a national mourning event not to unite the country but to seek support for his policy in Iraq. That's pretty obvious. At the same time, what else should be expected? Is that really a surprise?
So isn't the best strategy not to play into Bush’s hands? Mr Snow's eagerness to respond to the press yesterday is a sign that the democrats may have just taken the bait.