The New York Times, April 28, 2012:
Presidents running for re-election typically boast of programs they created, people they helped or laws they signed. They talk about rising test scores or falling deficits or expanding job rolls. President Obama is increasingly taking the unusual route of bragging about how he killed a man.
To be sure, that man was Osama bin Laden, and he is not mourned among either the president’s supporters or detractors. But in the days leading up to the first anniversary of the raid that finally caught up to the Qaeda mastermind, Mr. Obama has made a concerted, if to some indecorous, effort to trumpet the killing as perhaps the central accomplishment of his presidency.
The article does nod to previous Presidents running on their toughness, but then goes completely off the rails when talking about a recent Obama interview in the Situation Room:
Tony Fratto, a deputy press secretary under Mr. Bush, said that it was “unseemly” to use the room for such a purpose. “I don’t believe it ever would have occurred to us to conduct an interview in the Situation Room,” he said, “and don’t believe we would have considered it appropriate.”
Mr. Fratto (and Times), I give you the USS Abraham Lincoln from the New York Times, May 16, 2003:
George W. Bush’s ”Top Gun” landing on the deck of the carrier Abraham Lincoln will be remembered as one of the most audacious moments of presidential theater in American history. But it was only the latest example of how the Bush administration, going far beyond the foundations in stagecraft set by the Reagan White House, is using the powers of television and technology to promote a presidency like never before.
Officials of past Democratic and Republican administrations marvel at how the White House does not seem to miss an opportunity to showcase Mr. Bush in dramatic and perfectly lighted settings.
…
Media strategists noted afterward that Mr. Sforza and his aides had choreographed every aspect of the event, even down to the members of the Lincoln crew arrayed in coordinated shirt colors over Mr. Bush’s right shoulder and the ”Mission Accomplished” banner placed to perfectly capture the president and the celebratory two words in a single shot. The speech was specifically timed for what image makers call ”magic hour light,” which cast a golden glow on Mr. Bush.
Oh, and:
The New York Times, June 21, 2004:
The story of how President George W. Bush ended up with Saddam Hussein’s pistol mounted in his private study off the Oval Office has dribbled out in the last few weeks, and it is a good one.
In that context, Saddam’s pistol is a bookend of sorts, the prize of a president who viewed the badge as reason for waging two wars.
To the Delta Force that brought it back, the gun is a piece of history representing nothing less than mission complete. “These kinds of experiences you only have a few times in your life, and they’re very powerful,” said Major General David Grange, a retired commander in the Delta Force during the Gulf War. “It’s ‘Sir, we got him.”‘
As to whether Bush will ever give the gun to the Iraqis, he didn’t say.
Politics was so much more dignified in the Bush administration.
The Edge of the American West 
12 comments
April 28, 2012 at 9:52 am
pa joe
Your attempt to embarrass the un-embarrasable is futile. This is what they do as they smirk at the naivité of us proles who couldn’t possibly understand their insight.
April 28, 2012 at 10:46 am
JWL
Remember when GW “played the good sport” in that video by “searching” for WMD’s in the White House? Remember how the assembled Washington press corps laughed and laughed? With the notable exception of journalist David Corn, who attended the function and who possessed the decency to feel embarrassed for his profession, the assembled press thought Bush’s performance uproariously funny.
To be sure, that evening’s sick kabuki was out-and-out obscene. Still, it bears recollection whenever talk turns to “the politically unseemly”.
April 28, 2012 at 12:15 pm
mrearl
I understand the headline to apply to the utter oblivion to which all shame has been relegated at the New York Times, but it could apply with equal force to the quote from John McCain. After 2008, to hear that man describe anything that goes on in a presidential campaign as “pathetic” with a straight face makes the jaw drop, the mind reel, and the stomach turn.
Lord, how did it happen that Cokie “You Just Don’t Understand How It’s Done” Roberts came to set the tone for political reporting in outfits like the Times, the Post, and NPR? This is running for President, not beanbag, and you use the resources at your disposal, including the Situation Room, the Lincoln Bedroom, and an aircraft carrier and a flight suit. The idea that this is worth newshole in the New York Times is weird.
April 28, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Tybalt
“Remember when GW “played the good sport” in that video by “searching” for WMD’s in the White House? Remember how the assembled Washington press corps laughed and laughed? With the notable exception of journalist David Corn, who attended the function and who possessed the decency to feel embarrassed for his profession, the assembled press thought Bush’s performance uproariously funny.”
It was funny. That it was sick and obscene is true, but it was still funny.
April 28, 2012 at 1:38 pm
JWL
Funny? Tell that to the family and friends of the dead. Explain it to the wounded and maimed. If they laugh, I’ll cop to lacking a sense of humor.
April 28, 2012 at 2:33 pm
ari
The Times must be more solicitous of Republicans this go round.
April 28, 2012 at 3:31 pm
kevin
The Times must be more solicitous of Republicans this go round.
Someone needs to tell the simps at the Times that despite the lingering effects of their battered wife syndrome, Spiro Agnew has been in the ground for nearly two decades now and he won’t be able to hurt them with his mean words any more.
I can’t believe the Washington Post, of all publications, actually had the temerity to point out that the “both sides are to blame here” Beltway balancing act is pure and utter bullshit.
April 28, 2012 at 3:35 pm
Main Street Muse
The Bush people may not have used the Situation Room for interviews, but I’m sure they made full use of it as they manipulated data to make the case for war on Iraq.
The GOP has their knickers in a twist because the big O got Osama, not them. At one point, Rummy went on Fox to suggest that info derived from torturing prisoners during the Bush era was the only thing that brought down Osama Bin Laden. (http://bit.ly/iwZATZ)
No historians in that bunch! To them, facts are messy things that get in the way of the narrative.
April 29, 2012 at 9:03 am
Dave
bragging about how he killed a man
At least it wasn’t in Reno…
April 29, 2012 at 9:03 am
Dave
Better close that tag…
April 29, 2012 at 9:12 pm
erubin
I’m happy Obama killed bin Laden, but it was the socialist way he killed him that bothers me.
April 30, 2012 at 6:32 am
kevin
I’m happy Obama killed bin Laden, but it was the socialist way he killed him that bothers me.
True. I mean, using government-run military personnel? If he’d only outsourced it to Blackwater at five times the cost, then maybe we could feel good about it.