The White House is up in arms over Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle's statement that "this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Tuesday it was "inconsistent" with Daschle's prior statements that the prospect of war should not be politicized, reports CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller.
Fleischer said Daschle did not raise objections Monday in a meeting at the White House with other lawmakers shortly before the president's address. "He said nothing," Fleischer said.
Fleischer said Daschle, like every member of Congress, has to right to speak his opinion. But he suggested that criticizing the president was politicizing the war.
"I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war," Daschle said in a speech Monday. "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."
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer says Daschle was careful in his comments not to directly oppose military action at this late hour.
Daschle's comments also drew fire from top GOP officials. Republican National Chairman Marc Racicot denounced the remarks as "divisive and brazen political posturing."
He said it's "shameful" for Daschle to "blame America first."
A Daschle spokesman said it's "brazen and political" for a party chief to be responding to a national security issue with political language.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Duncan Hunter of California, said he hopes lawmakers will "close ranks" behind the president. He said he hopes U.S. foreign policy will "leave the shore with one voice."
Most Democratic lawmakers, while lamenting Mr. Bush's failure to win a new U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq, said now is the time to unite
as war appears inevitable.
"Those of us who have questioned the administration's approach, including this senator, will now be rallying behind the men and women of our armed forces to give them the full support that they deserve as it now seems certain we will soon be at war," Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said on the Senate floor.
Levin and other Democrats said the lack of U.N. support could result in less international assistance in the fight against terrorism, trigger more terrorist attacks, and make it more difficult to win international contributions for rebuilding Iraq after a war.
"The path to a safer world and a more secure America has rarely come from a go it alone approach," Levin said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said while she has disagreed with Mr. Bush's Iraq policy, "I stand fully behind our troops who may be going into harm's way."
Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., a presidential candidate, said U.N. Security Council members are partially to blame for world division because they did not enforce the resolution calling on Saddam to disarm. But he also faulted "the Bush administration's unilateralist, divisive diplomacy, which has pushed a lot of the world away from us and this just and necessary cause."
Republicans stood behind the president. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas praised him as "a man who values innocent life and rightly despises tyrants and dictators who end lives to further their schemes of domination and destruction."
Sen. Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois said the president's judgment is sound.
"We cannot give the U.N. veto power over our decisions to protect our national security interests," he said.
Daschle Under Fire For War Comments
/ CBS
The White House is up in arms over Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle's statement that "this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Tuesday it was "inconsistent" with Daschle's prior statements that the prospect of war should not be politicized, reports CBS News Correspondent Mark Knoller.
Fleischer said Daschle did not raise objections Monday in a meeting at the White House with other lawmakers shortly before the president's address. "He said nothing," Fleischer said.
Fleischer said Daschle, like every member of Congress, has to right to speak his opinion. But he suggested that criticizing the president was politicizing the war.
"I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war," Daschle said in a speech Monday. "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."
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer says Daschle was careful in his comments not to directly oppose military action at this late hour.
Daschle's comments also drew fire from top GOP officials. Republican National Chairman Marc Racicot denounced the remarks as "divisive and brazen political posturing."
He said it's "shameful" for Daschle to "blame America first."
A Daschle spokesman said it's "brazen and political" for a party chief to be responding to a national security issue with political language.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Duncan Hunter of California, said he hopes lawmakers will "close ranks" behind the president. He said he hopes U.S. foreign policy will "leave the shore with one voice."
Most Democratic lawmakers, while lamenting Mr. Bush's failure to win a new U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq, said now is the time to unite
as war appears inevitable.
"Those of us who have questioned the administration's approach, including this senator, will now be rallying behind the men and women of our armed forces to give them the full support that they deserve as it now seems certain we will soon be at war," Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said on the Senate floor.
Levin and other Democrats said the lack of U.N. support could result in less international assistance in the fight against terrorism, trigger more terrorist attacks, and make it more difficult to win international contributions for rebuilding Iraq after a war.
"The path to a safer world and a more secure America has rarely come from a go it alone approach," Levin said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said while she has disagreed with Mr. Bush's Iraq policy, "I stand fully behind our troops who may be going into harm's way."
Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., a presidential candidate, said U.N. Security Council members are partially to blame for world division because they did not enforce the resolution calling on Saddam to disarm. But he also faulted "the Bush administration's unilateralist, divisive diplomacy, which has pushed a lot of the world away from us and this just and necessary cause."
Republicans stood behind the president. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas praised him as "a man who values innocent life and rightly despises tyrants and dictators who end lives to further their schemes of domination and destruction."
Sen. Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois said the president's judgment is sound.
"We cannot give the U.N. veto power over our decisions to protect our national security interests," he said.