McCain and the GOP try to keep secret the on-going love affair with George W. Bush, but they love the money

It's not easy running for Bush's third term.

Articles in two of the big papers show the internal conflict McCain and the Republicans are having over the on-going relationship with their leader, their hero, their mentor: George W. Bush. It's sounds tawdry: clandestine meetings, lots of money, secret love and the fear of public exposure.

First, the Washington Post tells us that Bush is still the GOP's ATM:

His popularity rating in national polls is dismally low, and the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, is doing his best to avoid him, but Bush remains a formidable force on the GOP fundraising circuit during his final months in office.

He has already clocked 31 political events this year, raising nearly $70 million for GOP candidates and the national and state parties, according to the Republican National Committee. The tally puts the president on track to meet or exceed the amount he raised before the midterm elections in 2006, according to GOP officials.

To look at it another way: Since the start of 2007, Bush alone is responsible for raising more money than the entire Democratic National Committee.

"This president still has fundraising muscle," said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report. "Despite the economy, the war and the Republican brand problem, his numbers among Republicans are still very good. . . . He's still the commander in chief, with the top political job in the country.

In other words, McCain is still dependent on Bush to be his sugar daddy. So, like so many other tawdry relationships, McCain and the Repubs. love Bush for his money, but they're trying to hide how close they really are. But, as the New York Times reports, that's going to be hard to do at the GOP convention. The Bush/McCain relationship, which they've tried unsuccessfully to keep under wraps, will become very public:

This year, of course, Mr. McCain is trying to escape from Mr. Bush’s shadow. Most Republicans say Mr. Bush should play whatever role Mr. McCain wants him to. Some, like Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California, simply wish Mr. Bush would keep out of it, though few would say so openly.

“I don’t think there are a lot of people who want to see him at the convention,” said Mr. Rohrabacher, who is especially irked with Mr. Bush for his stance on immigration. He said the president “should stay home from the Republican convention, and everybody would be better off.”

But others, like Rob Portman, a former congressman and budget director for Mr. Bush, say Mr. McCain would be unwise to put too much distance between himself and the sitting president. “The president’s approval rating among Republicans’ base voters who are needed for a successful McCain campaign is relatively high,” Mr. Portman said.

That is the crux of the Republicans’ 2008 convention quandary. If the imagery coming out of St. Paul looks like a McCain-Bush hug fest, the Arizona senator will turn off voters who are through with Mr. Bush and want to move past him. If the imagery looks like Mr. McCain is trying to file for some kind of Republican divorce, it will turn off party conservatives who are already skeptical of Mr. McCain.

So Republicans may just have to grit their teeth.

Grit their teeth, but take the money. That sounds like a bad story line on a soap opera.