Vice President Dick Cheney accuses the senior Democrat in the Senate of cynically opposing the Iraq war for political gain. In response, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says the vice president is nothing more than an "attack dog" not worth arguing with.
As public support ebbs for the war, now in its fifth year, tempers are building.
What set off Cheney and Reid on Tuesday was yet another promise from President George W. Bush that he would veto the latest war spending bill taking shape in Congress, which will include a timetable for withdrawing American forces from Iraq.
"Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics," Cheney told reporters at the Capitol after attending the weekly Republican policy lunch. "Senator Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election."
"It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage," Cheney said.
Cheney said he felt compelled to make a statement in front of cameras to express his frustration with Reid after the Senate's top Democrat told reporters last week the war was lost. Cheney's remarks also showed the high stakes involved for the Bush administration in trying to stave off Democratic efforts to end the war.
Bush has enough Republican votes to sustain his veto -- the Democrats could not must the necessary two-thirds majority to overturn it in neither the 100-seat Senate nor the 435-seat House of Representatives. But the Democrats say they have public opinion on their side, and that eventually will force Bush to change.
"This isn't a political issue," said the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi. "I respect where the president is coming from on this. I wish he would respect where we are coming from, which is a reflection of where the American people are coming from."
Reid shrugged off Cheney's remarks.
"I'm not going to get into a name-calling match with the administration's chief attack dog," he said.
With Democrats expecting to send Bush the final bill as early as next week, Bush stood firm Tuesday against any measure that would set a timetable.
"They chose to make a political statement," he said. "That's their right, but it is wrong for our troops and it's wrong for our country."
Bush said US commander in Iraq General David Petraeus will know in about four months whether the president's plan to increase the U.S. troop presence in Iraq is working. The president would not discuss what he would do if the answer is no.
"The Plan B is to make Plan A work," he said. "You know, the problem is you start talking about Plan B, that's where everybody defaults."
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