You Win More Friends with Botox and a Sensible Pant Suit...

This week, Laura Bush hit the Sunday morning circuit in an obvious attempt to shore up her husband's free falling poll numbers. Laura got the kid glove treatment from George "the Eunuch" Stephanopolous on the "The Week, " where she talked about her desire to rebuild Gulf Coast schools ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. The First Lady's appearance combined with Tony Snow's tearful account of his struggle with cancer during a White House briefing seem to be part of a combined strategy to soften the image of a White House that has embraced torture, discretionary war, nuclear proliferation and tax cuts for the wealthy. This suspicion was confirmed by the latest West Wing schedule which contains briefings on Dick Cheney's Hummel collection, Donald Rumsfeld's heroic battle with erectile dysfunction ("the missile is stuck in the silo"), Condi' Rice's love of all things Faberge and Tower Snow's recent composting successes. According to an aide to Karl Rove, the White House is trying to "navigate that difficult ground between The Reich and The View."