WHO will Commander Cokespoon vote for? Obama? McCain? As always, Dana Perino has the ANSWER.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

News flash: George Bush to vote for John McCain despite daily attacks

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/10/news-flash-desp.html



For days now, Republican John McCain has been trying to separate himself from President Bush. At almost every campaign stop, he blasts the administration for heading the country "in the wrong direction" and accuses the Bush Treasury Department of being more interested in "bailing out the banks" than helping struggling homeowners. His running mate, Sarah Palin, echoes the point, asking voters "to send us to Washington to shake things up and clean things up."

None of this has escaped the notice of the White House.

But it's also no secret that the president's approval ratings are at historic lows. So today White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said that Bush, who won not one but two presidential elections, understands that a candidate for the highest office in the land has to do what he or she has to do.

She even suggested that McCain had the president's blessings to demonstrate distance between them, saying:

Every presidential candidate is going to run their campaign however they see fit. And remember that George W. Bush -- George H.W. Bush had to distance himself from President Reagan; President -- Vice President Gore distanced himself from Clinton. And we recognize that John McCain has to run on his own. ... The president has been -- he said that he would run for him or against him, whatever he thought would work.

Asked by one reporter how President Bush was going to vote, Perino assumed the questioner wondered whether the president would vote absentee or cast his vote in person. Amid laughter, another reporter quipped: "He might not be voting for McCain?"

No, said Perino, she was only going to check on how the president would cast his ballot. As for who he's voting for, she said, "I think the president has well established that."

Apparently Bush will not be one of those Republicans, like retired Gen. Colin Powell or satirist Christopher Buckley, who are voting for Democrat Barack Obama.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Doug Mills / Associated Press

[NV Whino]

1. He's going to write in George W. Bush.