After President Bush landed on the Abraham Lincoln back in May, the White House denied that the trip was politically motivated. White House officials portrayed the trip as a natural outgrowth of Bush’s regard for the troops:

The second [White House official] said, “Those who accused us of a political stunt are engaging in a political stunt. Fine by me. Let’s talk every day about the president wanting to get aboard that carrier to welcome those sailors and pilots home after 10 months fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan.”

So what are we to make of recent reports that a conservative fundraising group is using official Navy photos taken during the event to raise funds for the 2004 election?

Citizens United for the Bush Agenda is asking up to $1,000 from 30,000 people who were mailed the photo in the past month. For an additional $43, which refers to Bush being the 43d president, donors can also receive an official baseball cap bearing the name and image of the carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln. For $75, they can get two.

”He is clearly a commander-in-chief who is proud to be in the company of his troops — a striking contrast to former president Bill Clinton, who openly `loathed’ the military,” the group’s president, David N. Bossie, wrote in a letter accompanying the photograph. ”But while the sailors and Marines on the USS Lincoln were still cheering and saluting him, left-wingers back home in both the Congress and the media bitterly attacked him for visiting the troops.”

That sure sounds like politics to me.