Bush does not want to go down in history as the president who lost in Iraq. His strategy to the extent he has one is to hang tough and let whoever succeeds him take the fall.

She became known to listeners for her good-natured acceptance of ribbing from other panelists and callers to the program. Election 2004: How Bush Won and What You Can Expect in the Future. New York: Thomas Dunne Books.

She is currently a contributing editor for Newsweek magazine. Eleanor Clift (born July 7 1940) is a political reporter television pundit and author. She is a regular panelist on the nationally syndicated show The McLaughlin Group which Eleanor Clift has compared to "a televised food fight".