BUSH WITHDRAWS SWIFT BOAT DONOR'S NOMINATION AS ENVOY

It's not been a very good second term for George W. Bush and it's mostly his own fault. Today's decision to withdraw the ambassadorial nomination of a Missouri businessman who donated money to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is just a classic example of how the President has lost his so-called Texas swagger.

Fox was Bush's campaign chief in Missouri in 2004 and was listed as a "Ranger'" by the president's re-election campaign, meaning he raised at least $200,000. He also donated $50,000 to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a political group that produced and ran advertising questioning Kerry's war record in Vietnam.

Kerry, who earned a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts as a Navy officer in Vietnam, said Bush made the right decision to withdraw Fox's nomination."

Sam Fox had every opportunity to disavow the politics of personal destruction and to embrace the truth," Kerry said in a statement. "He chose not to."

Total crap. The Swift Boat Veterans outed John Kerry as the fraud that he is, and his crying shouldn't be enough for Bush, the guy who actually won the presidency, to withdraw nomination one. If the George W. Bush I voted for were here, he'd say something to the effect of, "I won and you lost, chumley. Therefore I get to appoint who I want, and if you don't like it, we'll play hardball."

Even worse, Bush's withdrawal of the nomination is essentially a stamp of approval to all the criticism that the Swift Boat Veterans got and continue to get from those that wish to silence their political speech, and it just aids those who are trying to criminalize the executive powers of a Republican president. Very bad move.