You may have noticed a fairly auspicious absence of late in the tug and pull of daily political coverage. In a news cycle dominated almost exclusively by presidential campaign updates, George W. Bush has been reduced to a cameo role, playing the part of the albatross around John McCain’s neck as he continues to break his own formidable records  for low approval ratings. (Just last week he dipped to 23 percent in the LA Times/Bloomberg poll, which is a new low in that survey.)

But the president is not forgotten everywhere. In the past week he has suffered numerous indignities that have found their way on to the b-wire of political news. In case you missed them, a few of the more notable ones:

Flush if you love your country: "From the Department of Damned-With-Faint-Praise, a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water-treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. The plan – hatched, naturally, in a bar – would place a vote on the November ballot to provide ‘an appropriate honor for a truly unique president.’"

Et tu, preacher? The pastor of the biggest Methodist congregation in the country, Kirbyjon  Caldwell, has launched a pro-Obama website. What does this have to do with George W. Bush? "If Rev. Caldwell’s name sounds familiar, it may be because he is the same Rev. Caldwell who introduced President Bush at the 2000 Republican National Convention and last month officiated at Jenna Bush’s wedding ceremony at the presidential ranch in Crawford. This election Caldwell is firmly in the Obama camp and doggedly trying to help the campaign bring other pastors and parishioners along."

Boo-birds on the 4th of July: Regarding the president’s planned July 4 appearance at Monticello, in Virginia: "[L]ately, when Bush has gone out among the American people, the American people have not received him warmly. From getting heckled at the NAACP convention in 2006, to getting booed by 40,000+ after throwing out the first pitch at the opening of the Washington Nationals’ in March, Bush hasn’t been able to leave the White House bubble without hearing an increasingly loud voice of dissent. Given that 72 percent of Charlottesville [Virginia] voters cast ballots against Bush’s re-election, and that his visit to Monticello on Friday to celebrate July 4 will be free and open to the public, could the president be stepping into a public embarrassment by coming to our town? Nobody is coming forward and declaring that they plan to interrupt the president, but blogger and former press secretary for Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) David Swanson says he does hope to rouse a little rabble at Monticello on Friday."