Laura Heckled

Laura Bush's heckling on her recent trip Middle East bound has risen some eyebrows. She says she felt neither afraid nor threatened, and that the protesters were small in number.

But the Christian Science Monitor looks at what's behind Laura Bush's recent arrival as a political charmer: It brings a softer face to the grizzled edge of The Administration. As evidenced in the past, The Administration uses women to patch up the edges during politically volitile periods. It could be said that The Administration takes Laura Bush for granted, thrusting her into the limelight to charm and adore the crowds whose teeth have begun to show for her husband.

She trotted out and defended The Administration after the Plame Leaks were [not] discovered; she came out of hiding to defend hubbyPrez on his stem cell policies; and she, of course, came out in due time to defend the Federal Government's intervention in the Terri Schaivo debacle.

It seems clear that Laura Bush is The Administration's star defenseman - she comes out to charm and defend and steal the limelight away from the operative government- another mirror to deflect from to the smoke.