Topic: W. Gives Hill Hell For Anti-War 'Reverse' Play

New York Post
May 5, 2007
By Ian Bishop
WASHINGTON - The White House yesterday unloaded a blast at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for playing "presidential politics" with her plan to repeal the same authorization for the Iraq war that she voted for in 2002.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto set the tone early yesterday, telling reporters that Clinton's Senate measure was "reckless" and "a political stunt."
"It's not reflective of conditions on the ground; it's not reflective of the contributions of our troops. You can't, for example, ask al Qaeda in Iraq, are they going to end their operations on the same date. I guess that would be nice, but that's not the way it works," Fratto said.
Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino kept up the broadside during the afternoon White House press briefing.
"What you saw was a little bit of presidential politics. And we might see more of it, but the president has a principled stand that he's not going to change," Perino said.
Clinton spokesman Blake Zeff fired back: "Hillary Clinton wants to end the war. George Bush wants to escalate it."
The former first lady yesterday introduced her measure to end Congress' approval for the war in Iraq as of Oct. 11. Clinton has been hammered by liberal voters for her 2002 vote authorizing the war.