Via Punditwatch: Mark Shields [of Meet the Press] had a different view on why many Republicans wanted to talk about Iraq:

Is there anybody in the White House who is unaware of the fact that there are six weeks remaining in a campaign in which no Republican can run on Bush’s record domestically?

Two million jobs lost, $4.5 trillion gone from the stock market, shenanigans in the CEO’s that is just a shock to the country, you know, two million people had jobs to go to when Bush was President, sworn in, don’t have jobs to go to Monday morning. No, they can’t. But they can run on George Bush as commander in chief is a far more popular figure than a steward of the economy.