Bush Gets the Bum's Rush

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Far from getting a hero's welcome, President Bush didn't even get through the doors of the Republican National Convention hall last night. In an abbreviated address beamed in from 1,000 miles away, Bush offered a stilted endorsement of his former rival -- then faded away, his ghostly image on a giant screen quickly replaced by an homage to Ronald Reagan.

John McCain's campaign is desperately trying to appeal to a nation hungry for change. One way to do that, of course, would be to explain precisely how a McCain presidency would be substantively different from a third Bush term. But either unwilling or unable to do so, the campaign has instead chosen to very publicly cut Bush loose.

Jennifer Loven writes for the Associated Press: "It was supposed to be President Bush's glory moment in his party's spotlight, full of tributes to his eight years of leadership and cheers from grateful partisans, as he passed the mantle to his would-be successor.

(Continued here.)