Friday, September 01, 2006

Feeling the Love

Surprise, surprise: despite Bush's amazing popularity1, Republican congressional candidates are practically gnawing their limbs off to distance themselves from him:

President Bush has become the invisible man of the Republican Party's effort to keep control of the House and Senate in November's midterm elections.

The Web sites of the party's candidates in the most competitive races across the country either give only a passing nod to the president or don't even mention Bush, whose popularity has been weighed down by the war in Iraq, high gas prices, economic anxieties and lingering memories of last August's Hurricane Katrina.
How bad is it? So bad that even Bush's BFF, Richard Pombo2, seems to be ashamed of him:
Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, is just about the only California House member facing the possibility of a competitive race, but he is running against Democrat Jerry McNerney, whom he handily defeated in 2004.

Pombo's extensive campaign Web site doesn't feature a photo of the powerful House Resources Committee chairman with the president, and in the issues section there is no mention either of Bush or Iraq.
What an ingrate. You'd think he'd be proud that the Leader of the Free World gave him a facial massage...and yet this photo doesn't appear anywhere on his campaign website:

(It does appear on his official House website, where it is the only picture of him with Bush.)

Blog for America is trying to make up for Pombo's slight by asking lefty blogs to remind their readers just what a good friend Bush has been to Pombo. I'm happy to oblige; after all, we remember even if Richie doesn't.

1Yes, this is snark.
2Sorry, Joe. He's just more into Pombo.

[That's all, folks]