Bush makes al-Maliki come into Sunni territory

To show how the Shiite leader can reach out to unite the country. But Bush himself doesn't dare stand before crowds that have not been 'vetted' and his outreach to U.S. citizens sucks.

Bush in Iraq:

The first video is in from Bush’s surprise visit to a remote and heavily guarded air base in Iraq’s western Anbar Province and it truly speaks volumes. It’s clear that this was nothing more than a chance for the president to use the troops as props (note the big thumbs up! from Gen. Petraeus) to spin his failing surge as U.S. troop levels surge as well. MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer brought in Republican strategist Joe Watkins and former Senior Advisor to John Kerry, James Boyce, to talk about the presidential visit.

Boyce is on the money, calling this what it was — a staged photo op. Watkins tries to spin this as a positive move by the president, and that he wants to get in touch with the troops to find out what’s going on on the ground, but Boyce fires back, reminding him that if Bush really wanted to get things done in Iraq he’d stay for more than six hours, he’d visit more than three times in four years and he wouldn’t have ignored the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations.

Bush in the United States: