Why the Long Faces?

I first saw this image last week, when Bush was in Baghdad, Iraq, for less than five hours on a super-duper-top-secret photo-op in an attempt to prop-up his abysmally low public approval numbers. These guys don’t appear too happy to serve as props for Bush:

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, left, and White House Counselor Dan Barlett, ride in a military helicopter wearing helmets and flak jackets for a trip from Baghdad International Airport to U.S. Embassy in the Greenzone Tuesday, June 13, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq. Snow and Bartlett traveled with President Bush who made a surprise visit to Baghdad.

Thanks to BAGnewsNotes.com for the image.

Political Wire Asks: Can Cheaters Run for President?

Under normal circumstances the question, Can Cheaters Run for President?, wouldn’t even come up. However, given the context of past decade, where the politics of personal destruction have been elevated to ever increasing levels, I think it’s only fair to probe the potential ’08 GOP (God’s Own Party) presidential candidates for their moral rectitude, being that they claim to be the party of traditional family values.

PoliticalWire.com asks:

Can Cheaters Run for President?

While the media regularly dissects Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) personal life and the infidelity of her husband a decade ago, Steve Benen notes in the Washington Monthly that adultery may be a bigger problem for Republicans in the next presidential campaign.

"Lurking just over the horizon are liabilities for three Republicans who have topped several national, independent polls for the GOP’s favorite 2008 nominee: Sen. John McCain (affair, divorce), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (affair, divorce, affair, divorce), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (divorce, affair, nasty divorce). Together, they form the most maritally challenged crop of presidential hopefuls in American political history."

"Just a few years after infidelity was considered a dealbreaker for a presidential candidate, the party that presents itself as the arbiter of virtue may field an unprecedented two-timing trifecta."