First off, there’s a disclaimer on page 5 that says "a high confidence judgment is not a fact or a certainty, . . . and such judgments still carry a risk of being wrong." This means it's possible for the current intelligence estimate to err in either direction. It’s not like they overestimated Iraq’s weapons capability just after underestimating it. But I digress.
While the dems and the press take their jabs at Bush for his saber rattling, he isn’t running for reelection and none of the major candidates are that closely aligned with him. As much as they want to make the inconsistencies about the republicans and a referendum on Bush, I don’t think the tactic carries that much weight.
Remember, most of the major republican candidates have never cast a vote based on an intelligence estimate and almost all of the democrat candidates have. If they would have bothered to read any of it to draw their own conclusion, they could have challenged its findings. Since I don’t believe any did, they must have trusted the info as credible. Either way, pointing fingers could be perilous for them because they are just as complicit.
No, it doesn’t hurt the republicans or the current administration, it hurts the entire country. It doesn't seem to matter how much of a threat Iran poses; short-term political gain is more important than the interests of America. This estimate and the subsequent, to borrow a Hillary expression, 'piling on' undercut the credibility of threatening to use military force, reduces our leverage against future threats, and diminishes rather than enhances the likelihood of a diplomatic outcome.
Consider this. If Iran actually stopped its nuclear program in 2003, is it coincidence this was the same year America made good on its threat of military force against Saddam Hussein?
As for as Bush 'lies', he doesn't produce the estimates. They're produced by career Washington bureaucrats who come in all political flavors. You know, the same types who work at the BATF, IRS, SSA and all the rest of our favorite government agencies.