bush afraid of his shadow

President Bush may skip one of the three debates that have been proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates and accepted by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Republican officials said yesterday.
. . .
The audience for the second debate, to be at Washington University in St. Louis, was to be picked by the Gallup Organization. The commission said participants should be undecided voters from the St. Louis area.

A presidential adviser said campaign officials were concerned that people could pose as undecided when they actually are partisans.

"It's not a fear of the format," said the adviser, who refused to be identified to avoid annoying Bush. "They want two debates that are focused on clear differences on foreign and domestic policy. We benefit from the differences."

Once again, Bush exhibits a fear of facing anyone who isn't an absolute pro-Bush partisan. The question is, is this fear pathological? Or is the Bush team afraid of something specific?

BTW--that adviser "who refused to be identified" is a real snark, having said nothing that could possibly annoy his/her bosses.

Bush is afraid of his own shadow. And his shadow is us.