White House to 'hit back' at Democrats

This is from CNN.Com:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Top White House officials say they're developing a "campaign-style" strategy in response to increasing Democratic allegations that the Bush administration twisted intelligence to make its case for war.

White House aides, who agreed to speak to CNN only on the condition of anonymity, said they hoped to increase what they called their "hit back" in coming days.

The officials say they plan to repeatedly make the point -- as they did during the 2004 campaign -- that pre-war intelligence was faulty, it was not manipulated and everyone was working off the same intelligence.

They hope to arm GOP officials with more quotes by Democrats making the same pre-war claims as Republicans did about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.

Democrats have pointed at declassified information they say shows the White House was "deceptive" in pre-war statements.

Telegraphing the beginning of a communications effort is a tactic the Bush team has used in the past, especially when it comes to Iraq.

The examination into the intelligence used to justify invading Iraq has intensified on the heels of the October 28 indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, who resigned

There's just one small problem with this campaign style tactic--SCOOTER LIBBY! He is under indictment for lying to the grand jury, with the trial starting next year. The faulty intelligence and the administration's misuse of intelligence will be brought up--either in the trial, the media, or the blogosphere. And you can be that there will also be top White House officials called up to give testimony (Can anyone say Dick Cheney or Karl Rove?). And any time the White House tries these "campaign-style" attacks against the Democrats, the Democrats can bring up the same evidence of the White House Iraq Group using the faulty intelligence to market their war--with Cheney, Rove, Wolfowitz, Libby, and the rest of the neocons at the center of the fiasco. The evidence is out there.

The Bush White House is struggling with a failed defense. The polls already show that the American public no longer trusts President Bush. Is this "campaign-style" attack against the Democrats going to help regain the public's trust--especially now that the public knows a White House official has been involved in the Valerie Plame affair? This tactic is no more than a bully, blustering and accusing others of abusing him, while proclaiming himself as the poor innocent victim here. Unfortunately, no one believes him.