UNGRACIOUSNESS? WE HAVE PEOPLE TO DO THAT SORT OF THING FOR US

Fans of George W. Bush have long praised him for not engaging in personal attacks on his opponents -- even as Bush surrounded himself with subordinates and shadowing groups (remember the Swift boat guys) who did his dirty work for him. We saw this particularly in the early days of the Obama presidency, when Bush himself declined to join the Obama pile-on, but just about everyone else who'd ever worked with him was jumping onto the pile, up to and including Bush's vice president (probably the most enthusiastic guy on the pile).

And now Bush is apparently letting the help do his attacking for him again, while he continues to appear gracious and above all the squabbling. This is from the New York Daily News:

George W. Bush won't be at Ground Zero with President Obama Thursday in part because he feels his team is getting short shrift in the decade-long manhunt for Osama Bin Laden.

"[Bush] viewed this as an Obama victory lap," a highly-placed source told the Daily News Wednesday....

"He doesn't feel personally snubbed and appreciates the invitation, but Obama's claiming all the credit and a lot of other people deserve some of it," the source added.

"Obama gave no credit whatsoever to the intelligence infrastructure the Bush administration set up that is being hailed from the left and right as setting in motion the operation that got Bin Laden. It rubbed Bush the wrong way."

Bush spokesman David Sherzer said Bush "appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight." ...

Since leaving office in 2009 the 43rd president has stuck to a rigorous code of silence about criticizing Obama....

Well, actually, he hasn't always stuck to that code, but never mind -- he's still mostly let others do his dirty work for him. And he's doing it again.