President Bush has calmed down his attacks against war opponents today:

BEIJING – After fiercely defending his Iraq policy across Asia, President
Bush abruptly toned down his attack on war critics Sunday and said there was
nothing unpatriotic about opposing his strategy.

“People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about
Iraq,” Bush said, three days after agreeing with Vice President Dick Cheney
that the critics were “reprehensible.”

The president also praised Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record),
D-Pa., as “a fine man” and a strong supporter of the military despite the
congressman’s call for troop withdrawal as soon as possible.

Bush brought up the growing Iraq debate when he met reporters after
inconclusive talks with President Hu Jintao about friction in U.S.-China
relations. Bush ran into stiff resistance from the Chinese to his call for
expanding religious freedom and human rights.

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They say Bush does not play to the polls, but why else would he be toning
down his attacks? The late night fiasco in Congress Friday to split the
Democrats over the war backfired miserably, and Rep. Murtha is still getting
plenty of air time and support.

 Now that he has toned this down so much I wonder if he will have some
harsh words for Scotty McClellan after his bashing of Murtha this week. After
all, the press secretary is the voice of the President. Seems like it might be
another nail in the coffin of McClellan’s career at the White House.