Bush Gets the Bum's Rush

Edwin Chen writes for Bloomberg: "George W. Bush became the first incumbent president to skip his party's nominating convention in 40 years. . . .

"Conventions typically pay homage to party elders. This time, however, the Bushes are playing a minor role even though the family is arguably the most successful in the Republican Party's history."

Chen notes that despite bringing on many former Bush aides -- and adopting their most controversial tactics -- the McCain campaign is still trying to maintain plausible deniability. "Mark Salter, a McCain confidant, described the former Bush aides as 'a bunch of good people' whose work for the president 'shouldn't be held against them.'"

Michael Crowley blogs for the New Republic: "He looked like a man in exile--or maybe a quarantined leper."

Rich Lowry blogs for the National Review: "Kind of sad and maybe even a little disrespectful that Bush was reduced to such a small role."

The Angry Left?

The line in Bush's speech that won the most applause from the Republican delegates was this one: "Fellow citizens: If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will."

Mark Silva blogs for the Chicago Tribune: "The angry Left?

"Is that McCain's opposition?

"Barack Obama wants to raise taxes, the Republicans are warning voters. And he is 'dangerously unprepared' to lead, their TV ads warn viewers. But 'angry?'"

And Matthew Yglesias blogs for thinkprogress.org: "The analogy between American liberals and Vietnamese Communists is extremely offensive."

The Big Picture

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post that "the party's titular leader has been largely an afterthought for Republicans this week. . . .

"While many delegates largely respect Bush for his values and wartime leadership, he has bequeathed McCain a difficult political landscape that practically demands that the senator from Arizona run a campaign distancing himself from the Bush administration.