Uh... why? He's in the last half of his last term, he doesn't need to worry about running another election so why bother?

I assume the Reps wish their next Prez candidate to have SOME chance.

Because ultimately you get written up in the history books and your grandchildren and their classmates will read about you. The poor little brats need some shreds of dignity to cling to.

Then too you need to have something worth talking about in chat shows and ghost-written auto-biographies otherwise its going to be a long retirement sitting on the porch in a rocking chair.

So how green are wars these days?

Think of how green we could be if only the OS (think Vista) didn't require the graphics accelator to constantly run the cooling fan. Why, we could use 5 year old graphics designs on newer, smaller dies! Think of all the energy we could save! We shouldn't stop there, though. How about your anti-virus scan? If we made that better (by merely ending the FUD), then the daily corporate scan wouldn't have to peg the cpu, bringing everything to a grinding halt! Think of all the cute, cuddly seals/penguins/polar bears we could save! Stop snickering! Polar bears are most certainly cuddly as long as you don't get within rang of a paw...

Seemed pretty obvious to me. Usually, when W is being obstinate about something, it means he's trying to protect his friends. All of his friends are in the oil business, mainly because big oil is the only lobby with people more creepy than Bush himself.

As for a legacy, Bush can afford to write his own legacy and make up whatever facts he wants. His kids aren't going to suffer, not nearly as much as the children being born in Iraq today. So they can't brag to all their the rich friends at the country club. Big whup. Stick them in Guantanamo for a week. That'll learn 'em.