MSNBC’s First Read has a great roundup of articles and blogs analyzing the relationship between Sen. John McCain and President George W. Bush. Most say McCain continues to distance himself from the unpopular president - and especially today, according to the blurb they posted from The Wall Street Journal:

“President Bush and John McCain will appear together at a fund-raiser in Phoenix Tuesday, the first time in nearly three months that the Republican presidential candidate will be seen beside the man he hopes to succeed. With Mr. Bush’s popularity at a record low, the McCain campaign has made sure that television footage of the two men together will be minimal. The maneuvering is the latest example of Sen. McCain’s aggressive effort to separate himself from the White House, even as he embraces many of the policies that Mr. Bush has promoted throughout his presidency.”

Further, the Washington Post’s The Trail blog mentioned that McCain broke with Bush over his North Korea stance yesterday in an opinion article that he co-authored with Sen. Joe Lieberman.

According to The Trail, Bush has softened on his North Korea position since designating it as part of the “axis of evil,” and this has angered many Republicans. McCain and Lieberman in the article call to renew pressure to dismantle Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons:

American leadership is also needed on North Korea. We must use the leverage available from the U.N. Security Council resolution passed after Pyongyang’s 2006 nuclear test to ensure the full and complete declaration, disablement and irreversible dismantlement of its nuclear facilities, in a verifiable manner, which we agreed to with the other members of the six-party talks. We must reinvigorate the trilateral coordination process with Japan and South Korea. And we must never squander the trust of our allies and the respect for our highest office by promising that the president will embark on an open-ended, unconditional personal negotiation with a dictator responsible for running an international criminal enterprise, a covert nuclear weapons program and a massive system of gulags.

McCain is walking a fine line with Bush. He must associate himself with the president enough to appease Republicans who still support Bush, but disassociate himself enough to avoid alienating voters who disapprove of Bush. McCain’s opinion piece and plan to distance himself from Bush at the Phoenix fund-raiser shows that the McCain/Bush relationship is being carefully crafted by the senator’s campaign. Bush appearances will rake in money for McCain’s campaign, but they better not be standing next to each other when the cameras are around.