Bush endorsement may be risky for McCain

BEWARE, John McCain. The money comes with a price.

Sure, President George W Bush will raise millions of dollars for your Republican presidential campaign and GOP candidates. But he will also give you the aura of a presidency tarnished by painful gasoline prices, a sagging economy, the threat of recession, a blemished US reputation around the world, turbulence in the Middle East and many more problems.

There’s also the unpopular war in Iraq — although you already are closely associated with that. How often to rub shoulders with an incumbent president — or whether to appear with him at all — is a delicate matter for presidential wannabes.