"Everything is f—ing spin," McCain is quoted as saying of Bush in a new book by , according to the Fox report which appeared on its website Thursday. 

Presidential candidates don’t usually welcome stories that quote them using profanity while talking about an incumbent president of their own party.

But the McCain campaign is not complaining about a Fox News report which quotes him voicing his frustration with President Bush on the Iraq war.

The story - which was published on the same night that McCain was set to address the Republican National Convention - could help the Arizona senator remind voters of some of his past disagreements with Bush on U.S. troop levels in Iraq.

According to "The War Within," Woodward’s forthcoming book, McCain slams Bush’s "spin" on the Iraq war while clenching his fist in the West Wing. Woodward, the Washington Post’s assistant managing editor who broke the Watergate scandal as a young reporter in the 1970s, claims that McCain made the comment directly to him.

Barack Obama has sought to contrast himself on foreign policy from McCain by touting a speech he gave in 2002 as a state senator in which he came out against the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"I don’t oppose all wars," Obama said at the time. "What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war."

McCain has countered by focusing not on the authorization of force in 2002 (which he voted for and Obama opposed) but rather on the long-time pressure he placed on President Bush to increase U.S. troop levels in Iraq. 

Woodward’s book, which runs 487 pages, is his fourth on the Bush administration. Woodward wrote two books praising Bush and a third which sharply criticized him. His most recent book "renders a mixed verdict" according to Bill Sammon, the Fox reporter who obtained an early copy of it.

The book lauds Bush’s surge of U.S. troops into Iraq, but criticizes him by saying that "too often he failed to lead."

AROUND the BLOGOSPHERE:

McCain = Bush’s Third Term - But George Bush still seems an afterthought. For example, Ezra Klein writes:. [T]onight’s speech was all about [McCain.] The policies are his qualities, the vision is his story, the vice president is his understudy. …

McCain/Bush in 2008 - Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant.

McCain claims nomination, pivots from ‘Bush fatigue’ - Bush. McCain had to play to the base while disowning the legacy of Bush. Even as he acknowledged Bush at the opening, McCain had to make a quick pivot away from the president with the lowest poll rating in US history. …

The First Special Interest Group Palin Met With as Republican VP … - Bush to McCain. Bush praised McCain, his rival in a bitter presidential nominating battle in 2000. “He’s not afraid to tell you when he disagrees. Believe me, I know,” Bush told the convention in a brief speech via satellite from …