John McCain is trying his best to keep his now-cozy relationship with President Bush off the evening news and not allow it to become the main topic of discussion on the cable talk shows. It doesn’t take a public opinion poll to know the president’s own popularity is at an all-time low for American presidents. It’s evident McCain’s handlers are fully aware of how low the President’s numbers are. Even McCain allies privately say that Bush is an “albatross” for the Republican nominee’s campaign. Regardless of his connection to Bush, it’s readily apparent that McCain is on the wrong side of the two main issues that are of great concern to the American people: the prolonged Iraq war; and the weakened U.S. economy. Even without Bush around his neck, those are issues that are major problems for the GOP nominee.

To his credit, Senator McCain is trying hard to rally the Republican base and raise campaign funds from the GOP faithful, some of whom don’t like him, and that is why he can’t afford to dump the president. The GOP standard bearer is facing a Democratic party which has unrivaled enthusiasm and also is enjoying from ordinary citizens record-breaking fundraising. The raising of funds – including a record number of small donations – has been an amazing and unprecedented feat by the Obama campaign.

While President Bush and his would-be successor have been appearing together, the McCain handlers are trying very hard to keep their meetings out of the limelight. That’s a tough thing to accomplish when the president and his gang are flying around the country on Air Force One trying to help the GOP nominee. It’s pretty hard to keep that sort of thing quiet. Nevertheless, the McCain handlers are holding the Bush-McCain fundraisers with the GOP faithful in private homes. There are no media around to document these meetings – and that is highly unusual. The only time Bush and McCain are captured on camera are after a night event — when it’s too late to make most evening newscasts – and obviously that’s by design. McCain’s fundraisers typically are closed to the press and that apparently suits Bush just fine. Can you remember a time when a nominee of either party wanted a sitting president’s help – but didn’t want the voters to know about it?

The American people must eventually answer one question and that is simply – do we want to continue George Bush’s policies? Since the failed policies of the Bush Administration are exactly what John McCain has promised to continue for another four years, the GOP candidate has insurmountable problems with all Democrats, most Independents and a significant number of Republications. It has become evident that John McCain has become just an extension of Bush, offering the same policies and with no hope for change. While McCain has struggled to break from Bush on the two key issues — the Iraq war and the economy –he is joined at the hip with the president on each of them. Both men support continued military involvement in Iraq, and both back the same free-market economic principles. The American people want our troops out of Iraq and are demanding a reversal of our country’s economic woes. That’s why we won’t have a third Bush term starting in January of 2009. The voters want change and that means a Bush third term is totally unacceptable

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