One thing that has not been touched on this thread, by the way, is that Bush appearing in uniform in a military situation was not a brilliant new marketing idea from Rove et al, it was a successful attempt at flouting an important US political and military tradition: the president does not appear in this manner.

The president's role as commander-in-chief of the military was established so that the civilian elected government would always be in control of the military, not so that we have a country run by a military commander. In other words, the president must be a civilian who by rule of law is commander in chief, not a serving soldier who is running the country by force of arms. To maintain this important distinction, presidents traditionally avoid affecting the trappings of military rank, even if they are entitled to those trappings.   Even Eisenhower did not appear in uniform once elected president. For Bush to do this would have been considered OUTRAGEOUS even a few years ago. When Dukakis appeared in a helmet driving a tank during his campaign he was drubbed by both the GOP and the press, despite the fact that he had served in the army. When Bush does the same thing in a plane, despite the fact of his weaselly military record, HE gets a big wet one from the press.

Funny old world!