Conservatives are outraged that a New York Times photo of the recent Selma march did not show Mr. and Mrs. George W. Bush in it. They say he was "cropped out." The Times says the photo wasn't cropped at all; that Bush was simply not near Obama and the lead marchers so he was never in the photo in the first place. They note that his participation was reported in the news article.
Other photos of the event show that, yes, Bush was not near Obama so the "cropped out" term is probably not valid, though I doubt those using it will ever stop using it. Seems to me though their real complaint is with whoever was responsible for Bush not being physically closer to Obama — if indeed anyone was responsible. Like it or not, George W. Bush is an important man and it would have been a good additional marker of how far we've come since the original Selma protests to have the most recent Republican president near the front.
So if someone stuck him off to the side, that was wrong. If he just wound up there by chance or because he went the wrong way, there was no foul committed. I presume the New York Times had nothing to do with choreographing who marched where but it would have been nice if they'd run a separate photo of him, assuming one was available.
Also, the chances of seeing an important Republican leader get into the main part of that historic photo might have doubled if, say, two of them had showed up. But good for George W. Bush for supporting the demonstration with his presence. I still think he and Cheney committed war crimes and lied their asses off and did things that, had they been done by Democratic leaders, would have had the G.O.P. demanding impeachment and firing squads. But sometimes, they did the right things. Well, Bush, anyway.