Prez in Topless Tabloid [View All]

London Paper Nabs Rare Bush Exclusive

By Dana Milbank

President Bush has gone down-market.

After coming to office with a vow to restore dignity to the White House, the president yesterday took a brief sabbatical from that effort: He granted an exclusive interview to a British tabloid that features daily photographs of nude women and articles akin to those found in our own National Enquirer.
Press secretary Scott McClellan broke the news yesterday with nonchalance. "Good morning," he told reporters. "The president had his usual briefings this morning and just recently completed an interview with the Sun, for a discussion of his upcoming visit to the United Kingdom."

A British journalist for a more highbrow outlet was not about to let that slip by unnoticed. "Just to clarify," he asked, "why has the president chosen to do an interview with the Sun? It's a newspaper which publishes daily pictures of topless women."

(snip)

So why did Bush choose the tabloid that last raised international attention by publishing topless pictures of Prince Edward's fiancee? It's because the Sun has huge, uh, circulation. "It has a large readership," McClellan said. Indeed, about 3.5 million Britons are said to buy it each day -- all of them, of course, for the articles.


more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43228-2003Nov14.html