From his Thursday news conference:

You know, I guess I'm like any other political figure -- everybody wants to be loved, just sometimes the decisions you make and the consequences don't enable you to be loved. And so when it's all said and done, Ed, if you ever come down and visit the old, tired, me down there in Crawford, I will be able to say I looked in the mirror and made decisions based upon principle, not based upon politics. And that's important to me.

Insiders say that pragmatists and realists inside the administration aren't bothering to challenge Vice President Cheney over Iraq, because they know President Bush himself is so utterly engaged on the issue and so committed to "victory." On that "principle," the president seems willing to sacrifice not only the Republican party's electoral hopes in 2008, but the country's most fundamental interests.