Buchanan & Press, Thursday

DAVID SHUSTER, NBC CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a dramatic departure for John Kerry, because, until now, he has essentially been criticizing the president for not doing enough to build the coalition before the war. And Kerry has been one of the Democrats who has been a little reluctant to rush into any criticism about the weapons of mass destruction.

The other thing that this does is, it makes it a little difficult for John Kerry. It might open himself up to some criticism from the other Democrats, because, before the war, John Kerry was the one who was saying that the burden is on Saddam Hussein to explain to the world what happened to the weapons of mass destruction.

SHUSTER: Now John Kerry is saying, well, the burden is on President Bush to explain why he might have misled us. And a lot of Democrats, including the Dean campaign, are suggesting John Kerry cannot have it both ways.

BUCHANAN: Well, let me tell you what it looks like to me, just from a distance. It looks like Kerry is panicking over the Dean momentum and now he's trying to take positions on the left that contradict the positions -- it's got an aspect of desperation to him, which is not smart for a front-runner.

SHUSTER: But I think there's some fear in the Kerry campaign that Howard Dean is getting a lot of support through the Internet. A lot of grassroots organizations are sprouting up to support the Dean campaign. And it's something the Kerry campaign fears.