McCain ♥ Bush, Bush ♥ McCain

They all want to be married to each other, who are we to deny their family ties?

McCain adviser: Bush is ‘a political asset.’

The New York Times reports:

With Mr. McCain facing resistance from conservatives, Mr. Bush has also emerged as the man Republicans, including the McCain camp, are counting on to unite the party. One McCain adviser, Charlie Black, called Mr. Bush “a political asset” in an interview last week. Another, speaking anonymously to discuss strategy, said Mr. Bush needed to “put his arms around John McCain,” by figuratively linking himself with the senator in public comments.

And more from ThinkProgress:

Bush: If Candidates Are ‘Talking About Me,’ Republicans ‘Have A Better Chance Of Winning’

In an interview with Fox News, President Bush argued that if his agenda and record are made central issues in the upcoming presidential election, then the Republican nominee stands “a better chance of winning” because the election won’t be about him:

My attitude is, so long as they’re talking about me, we have a better chance of winning because our candidate will — what’s going to matter is not the past but the future when it comes to campaigns.

If the Democrat Party feels like they can win an election by focusing on me, I think they’d be making a huge tactical mistake. But I hope they do that then because our candidate will be able to talk about the future.

And our local Republicans, too:


UPDATE: Oh, and Rove loves McCain, too:

Karl Rove last week announced that he had given $2300 to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

Asked over the weekend about the donation, McCain said he has "always respected Karl Rove as one of the smart great political minds I think in American politics," and specifically refused to condemn Rove's hyper-partisan campaign tactics (including his smears against McCain in the 2000 South Carolina race).