Bush invites GOP congressional leaders to Camp David, to prevent mutiny

BuCheney are worried about their credibility and authority, if Republicans jump ship?

Damn! These two really are in a world of their own, aren't they?

They don't have any credibility, through no one's fault but their own. They would have been impeached a long time ago, had the Republicans in Congress not covered up for them, time and time again, and had the news media done their damnd jobs.

Most people, who blow their own credibility sky-high, do tend to lose their authority, eventually. That is as it should be.

Independent Online Edition > Americas:

The most important arm-twisting, however, this weekend was not on television but at Camp David. Mr Bush invited Republican congressional leaders to the presidential retreat in a bid to rally support, and dissuade members of his own party from breaking ranks with a 'lame duck' leader, whose approval ratings are at 35 per cent or less.

Though the White House insists that it alone charts the conduct of the war, the administration is deeply worried how non-binding resolutions opposing the troop build-up, likely to be voted upon in both Senate and House of Representatives in the next few weeks, could erode its authority and credibility.

Majority Democrats are already working on texts designed to attract maximum Republican support. The Senate vote will be especially telling, since Democrats need to find 10 votes among their opponents to gather the 60 needed to defeat the filibuster promised by the minority leader Mitch McConnell, a loyal backer of the President. If they succeed, it will be seen as further proof that Mr Bush has lost control of the Capitol Hill wing of his party, as Republican congressmen and senators facing re-election in 2008 run for cover from a war that sent the party to defeat in November's mid-term vote. 'Everybody is scared spitless,' John Thune, the South Dakota Republican, told The New York Times.