RNC: Don't defend Bush.

How bad is it for the Bushites?

The Republican National Committee is advising Republican candidates to not defend Bush OR the Republican Congress.

The Republican National Committee opened its two-day annual summer meeting Thursday at the Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, hoping to outline a national strategy that will enable its candidates to swim against a tide of popular opinion flowing against Bush and the Republicans in Congress.

The theme of the meeting — the RNC's first in Minnesota — is "Defining the difference," and that means debating the Democrats on the issues and not defending Bush and the Republican Congress on the policies they have instituted in the past six years.

"This is going to be an election about choice, not a referendum on the president," said RNC spokeswoman Ann Marie Hauser. "The president is not on the ballot."

Gee, I wonder if Ann Marie Hauser would be saying the same thing if he was a POPULAR President? You know, like Bill Clinton.