WASHINGTON — With his nominee for attorney general hemorrhaging support among Senate Democrats, President Bush is ratcheting up his criticism of Congress and accusing some lawmakers of “behaving as though America is not at war.”

In a speech to the Heritage Foundation yesterday in Washington, the president scolded senators for their treatment of his pick to head the Justice Department, Judge Michael Mukasey, saying they were wrong to make his confirmation hinge on a denunciation of a specific interrogation method, waterboarding.

“If the Senate Judiciary Committee were to block Judge Mukasey on these grounds, they would set a new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible nominee for attorney general,” Mr. Bush said. “And that would guarantee that America would have no attorney general during this time of war.”

He implicitly hit back at politicians who have accused the Bush administration of fearmongering, suggesting they are in denial about the threat American faces from terrorism. “I know that when I discuss the war on terror, some here in Washington, D.C., dismiss it as political rhetoric — an attempt to scare people into votes,” the president said. “Given the nature of the enemy and the words of its leaders, politicians who deny that we are at war are either being disingenuous or naïve.”

“We are at war,” he added, “and we cannot win this war by wishing it away or pretending it does not exist.”

Mr. Bush’s remarks appeared to do little to soften criticism by Democrats of his policies or his attorney general nominee. The front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Clinton, said Americans are “tired” of Mr. Bush’s rhetoric, and she assailed him for comparing the threat from current enemies such as Osama bin Laden to the specter of Nazism and Soviet communism.

“George Bush’s faulty and offensive historical analogies aren’t going to end the war in Iraq, make America safer or bring our troops home,” Mrs. Clinton said in a statement. “Americans are tired of the president’s efforts to play politics with national security and practice the politics of division.”

The New York senator has already announced her opposition to Judge Mukasey over his refusal to state that waterboarding, an interrogation technique that involves simulated drowning, is an illegal form of torture. She was joined yesterday by two prominent Democrats, Senators Kennedy and Kerry, both of Massachusetts. Also yesterday, the New York Times editorial board urged the Senate to reject Judge Mukasey.

Mr. Kennedy is a member of the Judiciary Committee and became the fourth of 10 Democrats on the panel to stand against Judge Mukasey. A vote on the nomination is set for Tuesday, and with Democrats enjoying a one-seat advantage, the Bronx-born jurist’s fate may rest with Senator Schumer, who recommended him to Mr. Bush as a possible consensus choice. Mr. Schumer has not committed to voting for him, however, and he has become uncharacteristically tight-tipped in recent days, refusing to disclose his decision.

In a carefully worded statement yesterday, the senator seemed to distance himself from Democrats who have said Judge Mukasey must explicitly condemn waterboarding as illegal in order to be acceptable. “No nominee from this administration will agree with us on torture and wiretapping. The best we can hope for is someone who will rebuild the Justice Department and remain independent, even when pressured by this administration,” Mr. Schumer said, according to the Associated Press. “I am weighing if Judge Mukasey is that person.”

Also undecided is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy of Vermont, who has been critical of Judge Mukasey after initially praising him.

Mr. Bush had better success shoring up support among Republicans yesterday, as Senators McCain of Arizona and Graham of South Carolina said they had decided to vote “yes.” But along with Senator Warner of Virginia, they also urged Judge Mukasey to declare waterboarding illegal once he is confirmed, a move the Bush administration has previously opposed on the grounds that terrorists should not know what specific interrogation techniques America deems off limits.

The White House said the president had personally reached out to Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee, with the press secretary, Dana Perino, telling reporters yesterday that Mr. Bush had spoken this week to Senator Specter of Pennsylvania, who remains on the fence with regard to Judge Mukasey.