I can answer those questions! The reason is this: the liberal media would like nothing more than to find a way to continually embarass Ashcroft - why? because he's been open about his commitment to Christ. Sooooo, being the arrogant, rude and a few other things that the liberal media are - they seem to take great joy in getting pictures of Ashcroft with the nude statue. There's nothing against the statue - it's how the media is using it to embarass Ashcroft EVERY TIME HE COMES TO THAT AREA TO MAKE SOME KIND OF ANNOUNCEMENT - this is ridiculous! The easy way to solve the problem is just to cover the statue up and therefore deny the media it's joy at embarassing Ashcroft.
And ... I might add - no self-respecting photographer would have allowed such a rude picture to have made it to the newspapers or magazines.