'I FULLY UNDERSTAND THE CONSEQUENCES'

President Bush makes his case for staying the course in Iraq—even as his critics and political opponents successfully begin planting doubts in the minds of voters about staying the course in Washington | Bob Jones

If love means never having to say you're sorry, then President Bush is looking for a whole lot of love from voters.

He certainly isn't getting it from the press. On April 13, in only the third prime-time press conference of his administration, Mr. Bush was challenged repeatedly to apologize to the American public for failing to prevent the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or for taking the country to war with Iraq.

He steadfastly refused to do so. "I'm sick when I think about the death that took place that day," the president replied when John Roberts of NBC News asked if he wanted to apologize for the Sept. 11 attacks. But he had no doubts as to who owed the apology. "The person responsible for the attacks was Osama bin Laden," he stressed.