"Why is that whenever President G. W. Bush does something unwise, his supporters always seem to assume that it is some kind of clever trick to put one over on his political opponents?"
Gordon, I'm not anywhere near as supportive of GW as I was even last year. He's done some things that really ticked me off--the prescription drug bill, the Patriot Act, among others. However, I see in most cases why he's doing what he is, even when I disagree.
However, the notion of giving someone enough rope to hang themselves isn't new in politics. I'm not saying that is what's going on, but it's certainly plausible. If that is his strategy, though, then he has to yank the rope soon, otherwise he'll be forced to dig himself out of low poll numbers for a year.