If Bush hurts republicans, why is he out while Reid and Pelosi are hiding?

The conventional wisdom is that republicans are hurt by their association with President Bush. And yet the President is out there every day, giving interviews, holding press conference, and making speeches throughout the country. He's not hiding, he's in the forefront making HIS case for why we should elect republicans.

If he was such a detriment, you'd expect him to be hiding, but he's not. But who IS hiding? None other than Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Yep, that's right. The leaders of the Democrat party, the people who will lead the house and senate if the American people make the enormous mistake of putting the Democrats back in power, are nowhere to be found. No speeches, not press conferences, no stumping around the country for their candidates. Instead, people like Kerry have been running around, but now he's also been hidden away. The picture of the "radioactive" Bush appearing on stage with republicans while the "saviors of our country" Pelosi and Reid are hidden away in a bunker somewhere, praying that nobody will find them or talk about them or remind anybody what they stand for before the election.

But even the media (which has done everything in it's power to try to get democrats elected), has noticed that they are carrying the water for people who have "cut and run" from their own election cycle.

Drudge notes (and google searches of news confirms) that Pelosi dropped off the radar around October 22 (Reid went into hiding after his explanations of his real estate deal went flat):

The woman who would be speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has oddly stayed out of the national spotlight in the week leading up to the big vote. The high profile, potentially history-making democrat has turned dramatically low-key. The last photo of vanishing Pelosi on the wires was from an October 21 fundraiser.

And since Pelosi appeared on the October 22 broadcast of 60 MINUTES, national TV hits have been nonexistent.

A source close to the congresswoman explains she has been busy behind the scenes. Pelosi made a brief appearance with Bill Clinton this week in San Fransisco.

Senator Chuck Schumer explained to reporters a month ago that the last thing the Democrats wanted to do was to raise issues in this election, because it might help Republicans if people knew what the Democrats wanted to do. Democrats cringe when the occasional media outlet notes who will run the committees should the democrats take over.

The Washington Post, trying to be helpful, even ran a story suggesting that maybe Nancy Pelosi wouldn't even BE the speaker of the House if the democrats won. That's how afraid the democrats are about people finding out what is behind the curtain.

The Washington Times profiled Pelosi's voting record here. It's not something Virginian's would support, but if enough Virginians pull the wrong lever, or push the wrong button, it won't be Webb or Kellum or Feder or Hurst running the Democrat party in a "new direction", it will be Nancy Pelosi and her liberal approach to government.

One thing is certain. Pelosi won't be hiding AFTER the election. Democrats hide what they believe until they have power, but they aren't bashful about hypocrisy. Tim Kaine took less than a week to break a major campaign promise about taxes, and didn't bat an eyebrow when he dropped his "lock the transportation trust fund" pledge. Nor did reversing his stance on the marriage amendment should be a cause for embarrassment.