July 10, 2003, the day the shadow of defeat first crossed Bush's political horizon

[Michael Eisenstadt]

David Broder writes:

If President Bush is not reelected, we may look back on last Thursday, 
July 10, 2003, as the day the shadow of defeat first crossed his 
political horizon. To be sure, Bush looks strong. The CBS News poll 
released that evening had his approval rating at 60 percent, with solid 
support from his own party, a 26-point lead among independents and a 
near-even split among Democrats. Two-thirds of those surveyed could not 
name a single one of the nine Democrats vying for the right to oppose him.

But "The CBS Evening News" that night was like Karl Rove's worst 
nightmare, and the other network newscasts -- still the main source of 
information for a large number of Americans -- were not much better.

The headlines announced by John Roberts, substituting for Dan Rather on 
CBS, were: "President Bush's false claim about Iraqi weapons; he made it 
despite a CIA warning the intelligence was bad. More Americans say U.S. 
is losing control of Iraq. Also tonight, food lines in America; they're 
back and getting longer."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55857-2003Jul14?language=printer