By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush insists a president "better mean what he says." Those words could return to haunt him.
After long denouncing leaks of all kinds, Bush is confronted with a statement - unchallenged by his aides - that he authorized a leak of classified material to undermine an Iraq war critic.
The allegation in the CIA leak case threatens the credibility of a president already falling in the polls, and it gives Democrats fresh material to accuse him of hypocrisy.
In September 2003, Bush said he was distressed by the CIA leak case. "If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action," he said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said at the time: "If anyone in this administration was involved in it (the CIA leak), they would no longer be in this administration."
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