Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said President Bush and his allies "attacked those of us with courage to ask the tough questions and tell the truth

MSNBC

Without acknowledging his comments yesterday when he said the "war is lost," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said President Bush and his allies "attacked those of us with courage to ask the tough questions and tell the truth about Iraq." He described their criticism of him and other Democrats as "an effort to shift attention from this Administration's failed policies" in Iraq.

In a remarks on the Senate floor after Bush's speech today, Reid did not repeat the "war is lost" comments. Instead, he said that "the longer we continue down the president's path the further we will be from responsibly ending this war." He repeated the sentiment two additional times in the speech and added, "but there is still a chance to change course and we must change course."

Reid also refuted the GOP claims following Reid's controversial remarks yesterday that Democrats don't support the troops and want to cut funding for them. "We take a back seat to no one in supporting our troops," Reid said. "And we will never abandon our troops in a time of war."

Reid also said: "The White House spin machine is working overtime in an effort defend its failed policies… I believe supporting our troops means giving them the funding they need and a strategy they deserve... It means stopping the partisan attacks and it means spending time working together in a bipartisan basis to develop an effective strategy to successfully end this war."