Editorial: Manipulated States of America

Nine months into a global anti-terror campaign, we find it distressing that the White House seems to place a higher priority on protecting the president's poll numbers than in rooting out endemic weaknesses in our intelligence gathering capabilities. If we don't find out what went wrong and it happens again -- who does Karl and Co. think we're going to blame then? If Bush wants to keep his job, he should realize -- and realize fairly quickly -- that protecting his ass isn't nearly as important as protecting the rest of ours.