Pelosi: "Bush is an incompetent leader."

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) 5.20.04, 8:30a -- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called President Bush "incompetent" and said he is responsible for hundreds of deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. "Bush is an incompetent leader. In fact, he's not a leader," Pelosi told the San Francisco Chronicle in a 45-minute interview Wednesday in her Capitol office. "He's a person who has no judgment, no experience and no knowledge of the subjects that he has to decide upon." Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, is a frequent critic of the president and led the effort against the war in 2003. But this was her strongest criticism of Bush to date. "He has on his shoulders the deaths of many more troops, because he would not heed the advice of his own State Department of what to expect after May 1 when he ... declared that major combat is over," Pelosi said. "The shallowness that he has brought to the office has not changed since he got there." The White House dismissed Pelosi's comments as partisan politics. "It's clear that the election season is drawing near, and there are those who will pursue politics over policy," White House spokesman Ken Lisaius told the newspaper. "That doesn't change the fact that the president is focused on winning the war on terror, protecting our homeland security and strengthening our improving economy." Pelosi also said the only way to get allies to commit more troops to Iraq is to have a new president. "Not to get personal about it, but the president's capacity to lead has never been there," Pelosi said. "In order to lead, you have to have judgment. In order to have judgment, you have to have knowledge and experience. He has none."

Well, duh.