(Recasts, adds details) By Steve Holland WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he was not satisfied with the way the Iraq war was going and bore the blame for it, as he sought to tamp down election-year demands for a dramatic course correction. Sounding testy at times during an hour-long news conference in the White House East Room, Bush insisted "we're winning, and we will win" the war. "I know many Americans are not satisfied with the situation in Iraq. I'm not satisfied either," Bush said. "But we cannot allow our dissatisfaction to turn into disillusionment about our purpose in this war." Bush, at his second news conference in two weeks -- an unusually fast pace for him -- confronted American doubts about Iraq with Nov. 7 elections 13 days away and his Republicans fearful of losing control of the U.S. Congress. After a month in which at least 90 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq, Bush rejected demands by some Democrats for a withdrawal timetable, saying a U.S. military prediction that Iraqis may take over security from the Americans no sooner than late 2007 was only a "conditions-based estimate." "This notion about, you know, fixed timetable of withdrawal, in my judgment, means defeat. You can't leave until the job is done," he said. Democrats are hoping to convert American dissatisfaction with the war, now longer than U.S. involvement in World War Two, into big gains in congressional elections and wrest control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate from Bush's Republicans. Urged by some critics to dump Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld as a way to shift course in Iraq, Bush gave fresh backing to him and said he would increase U.S. troops in Iraq if more troops are requested by Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. "I'm satisfied with how he's done all his jobs," Bush said of Rumsfeld's performance in handling Iraq and Afghanistan. "He is a smart, tough, capable administrator." Bush said people should blame him if they are not happy. "The ultimate accountability rests with me. It's what the 2004 campaign was about. If people are unhappy about it, look right to the president," Bush said. Criticized for using "stay the course" rhetoric with conditions deteriorating in Iraq, Bush insisted U.S. tactics are constantly changing and that he does not have "unlimited patience" with the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. 'COMPLETE DISARRAY' Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy said he still thought Bush was using a "stay-the-course" strategy and that it has taken the fear of losing elections to get him to talk about changes. "Only the prospect of losing his rubber-stamp Congress and the president's own low polls seem to penetrate the wall of denial around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," Kennedy said. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said: "The Bush administration's Iraq policy, like Iraq itself, is in complete disarray." Bush dismissed much of the criticism as partisan politics in an election year, and said Democrats were perhaps celebrating too soon the electoral gains that many polls say they stand to reap. Some Republicans seeking to hang on to their seats in a tough election year have distanced themselves from Bush, a fact he said he was not resentful about. He did joke that Democrats are using his image in television ads. "All I ask is that they pick out a good one. Make me look good, at least, on the picture," he said. It was a rare moment of levity in an otherwise sober news conference with the war and its potential political earthquake weighing heavily on him. Even as he sought to assure Americans the war is still winnable, Bush said people should expect "tough fighting ahead" and noted "the road to victory will not be easy."
