There appears to be a game of hide-and-seek going on with pictures of the president and Jack Abramoff. Time magazine reports that it has seen five such pictures that “suggest a level of contact between [Bush and Abramoff] that Bush’s aides have downplayed.” Democrats jumped on the news, sending out e-mails yesterday calling the photos “further evidence of the White House’s involvement in the Abramoff scandal.” But at the same time, Time suggests that the photos might not be a very big deal:

Most of the pictures have the formal look of photos taken at presidential receptions. The images of Bush, Abramoff and one of his sons appear to be the rapid-fire shots–known in White House parlance as clicks– that the President snaps with top supporters before taking the podium at fund-raising receptions. Over five years, Bush has posed for tens of thousands of such shots–many with people he does not know.

It would be nice to see the pictures to judge for ourselves. But for the moment, we’ll have to take Time’s word for it, because the magazine reports it was shown the photos by a “source” who “refused to provide the pictures for publication.” Why? Time doesn’t say. One might guess that whoever has the photos is holding them until a time when their publication might have even more political impact than it would now. That’s one possibility. But the Time story hints at another motive. The photos, it says, “are likely to see the light of day eventually because celebrity tabloids are on the prowl for them.” Now, everyone knows that celebrity tabloids pay a lot of money for hot pictures. Is Time suggesting that its source is looking for cash before parting with the photos? That wouldn’t look very good for the source — after all, the entire Abramoff scandal is about greed — and, given that the photos exist and are going to come out anyway, would probably be the best possible outcome for the White House.