"Abizaid, who I think is one of the really great thinkers, John Abizaid -- I don't know if you've ever had a chance to talk to him, he's a smart guy -- he came up with this construct: If we leave, they will follow us here. That's really different from other wars we've been in. If we leave, okay, so they suffer in other parts of the world, used to be the old mantra. This one is different. This war is, if they leave, they're coming after us. As a matter of fact, they'll be more emboldened to come after us. They will be able to find more recruits to come after us.

"Abizaid clearly sees this struggle -- he sees the effects of victory in Iraq as having a major impact on other parts of the Middle East. He also sees the reciprocal of that, a defeat -- just leaving -- the only defeat is leaving, is letting things fall into chaos and letting al Qaeda have a safe haven."

Blitzer: "The president flatly said today the United States is winning ... From your point of view, does it look like the U.S. is winning right now?"

Ware: "The president's remarks are absolutely striking, Wolf. I mean I would very much like to ask President Bush how he defines winning, because on the ground here, it looks like anything but.

"Given the state of chaos, given the near civil war, given the rising tempo of the Sunni insurgency, given the increasing influence, as Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad pointed out, of Iran and, to a lesser degree, Syria, I would like to know how the president defines victory.

"So far in this war, what we have seen with the way things have developed is that two of America's greatest enemies are the only beneficiaries of this conflict -- al Qaeda, which 16 U.S. intelligence agencies say has become stronger, not weaker, as a result of this war. So the very thing the president says he came here to prevent, he has fostered.

"And the other one is Iran. Iran's sphere of influence once stopped at Saddam's border. Now, they have great sway not only in southern Iraq, but within the central government, arguably, more sway than the United States."

"I found him energetic, focused, articulate, and in command of his thoughts, and I think you will too if you listen to the audio."

"Everybody knows George W. Bush is determined to win the war in Iraq. What came through in a meeting with conservative journalists in the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon, though, was the president's frustration in not being able to find more meaningful ways to measure progress in the war, and in not being able to make the case more effectively to the American people that progress is, in fact, being made. ..."At times during the conversation, the president seemed vexed -- not beaten, not downcast, but vexed -- by conditions in Iraq. Bush didn't say so, but from his words it seemed hard to deny that in some significant measure the insurgents and the sectarian killers are in control in the country, and that the fate of the American mission is in their hands. 'The frustration is that the definition of success has now gotten to be, how many innocent people are dying?' the president said. 'And if there's a lot dying, it means the enemy is winning.' He paused. 'That doesn't mean they're winning.'"

"As I say, people want to know, can you win? They're with us if we can win. If we're there and can't win, we're gone. If we can't win, I'll pull us out. If I didn't think it was noble and just and we can win, we're gone. I can't -- I'm not going to keep those kids in there and have to deal with their loved ones. I cannot -- I can't cover it up when I meet with a family who's lost a child. I cry, I weep, I hug. And I've got to be able to look them in the eye and say, we're going to win. I have to be able to do that. And I'm not a good faker."

"I'm interested in one thing: I'm interested in winning."

"This is a group of extremists who can't stand the thought of democracy," Bush said.

"The reason I bring that up, it all fits together. These are people that are bound together by a common desire to spread their vision, a vision that at some point will clash -- beginning to clash. Now the extremists and radicals have found great comfort with each other. But people are now beginning to really see the true culprit as Iran.

"Iran empowered Hezbollah, Hezbollah takes the attack, and -- which creates an interesting dynamic, and it gives us an opportunity to fashion kind of -- an alliance of reasonable people headed toward a clash -- all kinds of different ways, by the way -- with extremists and radicals. I'm not necessarily speaking military. It makes it easier for us to isolate Iran in that the dynamics have changed. Hopefully, it will make it easier for us to be able to convince Syria to change, and/or isolate Syria."

"It's not over. We've got the issues on our side. Protecting this country is the number-one issue. And you talk to -- admittedly, my focus groups are not broad, but people always say to me, thank you for protecting us. I view this as a struggle of good versus evil, by the way. I don't think religious people murder. I think people are misusing religion to justify their murder. And a lot of Americans understand it that way. Maybe it's not nuanced enough for some of the thinkers and all that stuff -- that's fine. But that's exactly what a lot of people like me think. And my job is to make it clear to the American people the stakes, and to spell it out as plainly as I can. And a lot of people understand it."

"Here's the way I view the enemy there: al Qaeda is lethal as hell -- scratch the 'hell' -- it's lethal. The suiciders tend to be al Qaeda. The VBIEDs tend to be al Qaeda. The spectacular killings tend to be al Qaeda. We can't measure -- solely measure how many Shia killings are al Qaeda that then caused the Sunni reprisal. But you've got to know some are. A lot of the bloodshed these days, of course, is the revenge killings -- Sunni on Shia -- it's obvious. There is a criminal element in Iraq, as well, that the government is going to have to deal with. There is a vacuum, and into vacuum moved criminals."

Q "I want to go on the air tonight, I want some good news. I need some good news, sir."

THE PRESIDENT: "Yes, I do, too."

Q "I really do."

THE PRESIDENT: "You're talking to Noah about the flood. I do, too."

Q "It's a hard thing."

"I'm trying to figure out a matrix that says things are getting better. I think that one way to measure is less violence than before, I guess. We'll have to see what happens here after Ramadan. I believe these people -- oh, I was going to tell you Abizaid believes Ramadan, no question, caused them to be more violent because he says there's some kind of reward during Ramadan for violence. And I think they're trying to affect the elections."

"Most people view this as he's isolated, he's out there in the middle of nowhere, don't worry about him, let him starve his people to death -- which he is doing. And we have now got a 70-nation coalition that is focused on him. As you probably are aware, there's been some financial measures that he keeps talking about." ...

"Well, OFF THE RECORD, banks don't want to be labeled: Bad guys do business here. They're very conservative people, whether it be Iranians or North Koreans.

"We'll go back on the record."

"Trying to walk a careful line between optimism and pessimism less than two weeks before midterm elections, Bush lamented the 'unspeakable violence' raging in Iraq while trying to reassure American voters that he is adapting his approach to address it. He vowed to 'carefully consider any proposal that will help us achieve victory' as long as it does not involve withdrawing troops prematurely."

"Before taking questions from reporters, Mr. Bush offered an opening statement that amounted to a kind of scorecard for Iraq, in which he acknowledged disappointments as well as successes. Among successes, he listed the capture of Saddam Hussein, free elections, and economic progress for farms and small businesses. Among the developments he called 'not encouraging,' he listed 'the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, the fact that we did not find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, and the continued loss of some of America's finest sons and daughters.'"

"The text of President Bush's news conference yesterday ran to nearly 10,000 words, but what may have been more significant were the things he did not say.

"The president talked repeatedly about 'benchmarks' for progress in Iraq, using that word some 13 times. But he did not discuss the consequences of the Iraqi government missing those targets. Such a question, he said, was 'hypothetical.'

"That response left unclear how the benchmarks would be different from previous times when the U.S. has set out intentions, only to back down. ...

"[H]e did not use his old favorite phrase about U.S. troops 'standing down as they stand up.' He mentioned the goal of training about 325,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers, but he did not address the paradox that as that goal is neared, violence has intensified and the insurgency appears as robust as ever. Nor did he note that after U.S. forces stood down in Baghdad, they had to stand back up again. ...

"Under a barrage of sharp questions from reporters, pointing again and again to contradictions and problems in his stance on Iraq, President Bush clung to his most basic line of defense -- his own faith and confidence in his approach. He used the word 'believe' 21 times in the course of the hour-long news conference.

"'I believe that the military strategy we have is going to work, that's what I believe,' he said to one reporter."

"Throughout the hour, the typically plain-spoken Bush offered descriptions of his plans for waging the war that were complicated and at times appeared contradictory.

"In his opening remarks, for example, Bush acknowledged, 'I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq. I'm not satisfied, either.'

"But asked moments later to assess the war, he responded adamantly, 'Absolutely, we're winning' the fight against terrorism.

"He took full responsibility for the war, saying, 'If people are unhappy about it, look right to the president.' Later, he said it was up to the generals to ask for more troops if they needed them and said he would take advice from a bipartisan commission.

"And after months of ridiculing Democrats who want a timeline for ending the war, he expressed support for 'benchmarks' that would lead to U.S. troop drawdowns."

"President Bush may be making his last best case for the war in Iraq, but to growing ranks of skeptics it's the same old argument."

Bush's "semantic tap-dance highlights one of the president's toughest election-year challenges: how to show war-weary voters that he's confident and resolute, without giving the impression that he's unrealistic and inflexible. ...

"'The way he's dealing with it is to try to fudge and fuzz up the issues,' said Richard Kohn, a visiting history professor at the U.S. Army War College and Dickinson College, both in Carlisle, Pa. 'On the eve of a crucial election, there's so much dissatisfaction with his leadership and the war itself that he has to give the impression that he's rethinking his strategy.'"

"Remember Al Gore's mysterious 'lockbox' Well, I have a new item to nominate for the Museum of Inert Campaign Rhetoric: 'Benchmarks.' The president says that they are the keys to victory in Iraq. But if I'm a struggling Republican candidate -- buffeted by winds of anger and confusion over the war -- I'm not sure 'benchmarks' will insure my victory on Nov. 7."

King: "David, the president went into the East Room today. The White House said it would be a significant announcement about Iraq. Was there a significant announcement, a policy announcement, or was the significance in the fact that the president had to go into the East Room, less than two weeks before the election, and say what he said?"

Gergen: "You know, usually, John, the president comes in with a well-crafted message that you understand what the headline is supposed to be after it's over. This time, he seemed to be flailing. There was no particular message. It was mushy. And -- and he said several things that fly in the face of what most people believe."

"The president's conviction is obvious. But whether it's supported by facts -- and whether there's a real path to victory as he defines it -- is dubious.

"There continues to be a yawning gap between his rhetoric and reality."