In an April 27 editorial about whether the selection of Fox News radio host Tony Snow as White House press secretary will help the Bush administration more effectively communicate its policies to the public, the New York Post asserted that the administration has “often come off as treating its top priorities -- the War on Terror and, particularly, Iraq -- as near-afterthoughts.” Far from treating those subjects as “near-afterthoughts,” however, the Bush administration has made them a central theme in every major policy agenda and electoral strategy for the past four years. A Media Matters for America review of newspaper coverage shows that administration officials have:

• made both terrorism and the Iraq war major themes in every one of President Bush's State of the Union addresses since 2002.

• publicly stated that campaign strategies for every national election since that year, including the forthcoming 2006 midterms and Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, have hinged on making terrorism and the war central themes.

• on at least three occasions in the past year alone -- June 2005, December 2005, and March 2006 -- launched what have been described as “new public relations campaigns” aimed at bolstering support for the Iraq war by attempting to refute concerns about escalating violence and instability, the inability to find weapons of mass destruction, and criticism of the administration's use of prewar intelligence, while highlighting what the administration perceives as progress in developing a stable society in Iraq.

From the April 27 edition of the New York Post:

Thus, [Tony Snow] knows what both a president and a press corps need in terms of the flow of information. That's a skill the White House has lacked in recent years.

Thanks in good part to the president's several rounds of tax cuts, the economy's been going great guns for four-plus years - yet the president's team hasn't managed to publicize its achievement.

And the administration has often come off as treating its top priorities -- the War on Terror and, particularly, Iraq -- as near-afterthoughts.

From Cox News Service, January 19, 2002:

Rove, Bush's top political strategist, told the Republican National Committee (RNC) meeting in Austin, Texas, on Friday that the GOP will make the president's handling of the war on terrorism the centerpiece of their strategy to regain control of the Senate and hold their slim majority in the House.

“We can go to the country on this issue because they trust the Republican Party to do a better job of protecting and strengthening America's military might and thereby protecting America,” Rove said.

From the Austin American-Statesman, January 27, 2002:

Tuesday's speech, to be broadcast to the nation at 8 p.m. CST, will center on three major themes: economic security, homeland security and the war on terrorism.

“This is not a typical sophomore State of the Union address from a president because we are at war,” White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said. “It's not going to be a laundry list like we have seen in the past.”

From The Providence Journal, January 28, 2003:

[Deputy Chief of Staff Karl] Rove suggested that war and peace will be a major theme of the State of the Union speech. “But I don't think you'll see the definitive speech on Iraq because conditions are going forward,” he said.

From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, January 18, 2004:

On Tuesday night, he'll appeal to the country to stay the course in a bloody campaign that has left 500 American soldiers dead.

And while the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction Bush warned of a year ago have yet to be found, he will contend that the United States is far safer with toppled leader Saddam Hussein behind bars.

Overall, said Bartlett, the speech will underscore the basic message Bush hopes to drive home between now and November, that the country is moving forward under his leadership and this is no time to change horses in midstream.

“There is a lot of change happening in the world, and there is a lot of change here at home,” said Bartlett. “But there's reason to be confident, because the change is for the better.”

From The Dallas Morning News, April 6, 2004:

Beginning with meetings last September, the Bush team - including the president's chief political adviser Karl Rove - prepared a re-election strategy focusing on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

“It became clear to us how important it was to establish 9-11 as the context for the whole campaign,” Mr. McKinnon said. “The economy is, of course, important. But it's going to be seen through the screen of 9-11 and in combination with the war on terror.”

From the Sun-Sentinel, February 3, 2005:

President Bush delivered his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, but the speech was clearly aimed a television audience that included the elderly, veterans, military families and the youngest generation of Americans preparing to enter the work force.

[...]

At the Goodwin Residence Hall at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, a group of about 16 students watched the speech, eager to hear what Bush was going to say about Iraq and the partial privatization of Social Security, the other major theme of his address.

From the Associated Press, June 28, 2005:

President Bush is using the first anniversary of Iraq's sovereignty to try to ease Americans' doubts about the mission and outline a winning strategy for a violent conflict that has cost the lives of more than 1,740 U.S. troops and has no end in sight.

[...]

Bush's speech is part of a new public-relations campaign from the White House to try to calm anxieties about the war. It comes after several conflicting or perplexing messages about the nature and duration of the conflict.

Vice President Dick Cheney made headlines last month with his assertion that the insurgency in Iraq was “in its last throes.” He was later contradicted by the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, Gen. John Abizaid, and by Rumsfeld, who said the insurgency could drag on for years.

From the AP, December 6, 2005:

The White House says the head of the opposition Democratic Party is sending the wrong message to U.S. troops in Iraq by saying that they will not win the war there.

[...]

Vice President Cheney spoke at Fort Drum, where more than 3,000 members of the 42nd Infantry Division returned in November. Another 3,000 troops from that base remain in Iraq.

President Bush opened the new public relations campaign on Iraq with a speech last week at the U.S. Naval Academy. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld kept it going with a speech Monday criticizing the news media for focusing too much on casualties.

Following the vice president's meeting with troops Tuesday, President Bush again speaks about Iraq Wednesday, focusing on what the White House calls economic accomplishments in the country's rebuilding.

From the AP, January 20:

Embattled White House adviser Karl Rove vowed Friday to make the war on terrorism a central campaign issue in November and said Democratic senators looked “mean-spirited and small-minded” in questioning Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

“Republicans have a post-9/11 view of the world. And Democrats have a pre-9/11 view of the world,” Rove told Republican activists. “That doesn't make them unpatriotic, not at all. But it does make them wrong deeply and profoundly and consistently wrong.”

President Bush's top political lieutenant, making a rare public address while under investigation in the CIA leak case, joined Republican Party chairman Ken Mehlman in warning GOP leaders against falling prey to the corrupting nature of power.

From USA Today, February 1:

Tuesday night, however, [Bush] launched a second start of his second term with a downsized domestic agenda and an acknowledgement that his presidency will be judged in large part by the outcome of the conflict in Iraq.

[...]

The first half of the address dealt with foreign policy and the threat of terrorism. He used the word “terror” or “terrorism” or “terrorists” 20 times during the speech, “freedom” 15 times, “security” nine times and “victory” six.

He challenged Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions but never mentioned North Korea, which is now believed to have nuclear weapons. He pressed for progress toward democracy in Saudi Arabia and Egypt and noted only in passing that Palestinian elections last week put the terrorist group Hamas in power. “Elections are vital, but they are only the beginning,” he said.

From the AP, March 10:

President Bush on Monday begins a series of speeches to convince Americans, rattled by daily bombings, that the United States is on the right path to defeat terrorists and insurgents in Iraq.

[...]

Two more speeches Bush is planning later this month come as the administration is marking the three-year anniversary of March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein. And the new public relations campaign, which will include speeches by other top administration officials, comes as Bush is seeing declining public support for the war.