Our Short Stint As A Kerry Spinner

Bush falls off his mountain-bike; according to Drudge, "Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, 'Did the training wheels fall off?'... Reporters are debating whether to treat it is as on or off the record... Developing...".

OK, get past your first reaction, and open your mind to the possibility that this was a topical quip. Apparently, it was only yesterday that Bush was using a training wheel metaphor to describe Iraq:

"He talked about ‘time to take the training wheels off,"’ said Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio. "The Iraqi people have been in training, and now it’s time for them to take the bike and go forward."

That might have provided the inspiration for Kerry's attempt at humor; I suspect that will be the explanation, anyway.

BONUS: The straight news story has Kerry's approved reaction - ""I hope he's OK. I didn't know the president rode a bike."

I didn't know that either, but here is some background from April 10:

Bush has been bicycling more since a painful right knee late last year forced him to cut back on his usual jogging. The Secret Service recently refurbished its fleet of mountain bikes at the ranch.

UPDATE: Let's put this Washington Times coverage in the Hall of Shame - an RNC press release would show more imagination (or not). By contrast, Don Imus mentioned the training wheels quip on Monday morning, and immediately provided the Iraq connection.

The National Review thinks Bush is the bigger jock; we try to relate the bicycle debate to John Kerry's principled positions.

UPDATE: A Wednesday post-script from Mayor Daley of Chicago:

Mayor Daley scolded Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry Tuesday for making a wisecrack about the bicycle accident that scraped the face, hands and knees of President Bush.

...Daley, who ripped the skin off his kneecap during a bicycle accident a few years ago, said the joke was disrespectful. "When someone falls . . . you should not wish ill upon anyone. It's not right. . . . You just don't do that. Let's have some respect for one another."

To Daley, Kerry's remark symbolized a hate-filled brand of politics the mayor has long despised.

"The thing I worry about in politics is all of these people hating one another [saying], 'I hate Kerry', 'I hate Bush.' I wish the former presidents -- Carter and Ford and Clinton and Bush -- would all get up and tell people, 'You may support candidates, but don't hate the other candidate.'

"You see too much hate. And I'll tell you one thing -- hate will turn on people. . . . When hate gets in politics, it's a very, very dangerous aspect."

Comments

[WillieStyle]

Fell off his bike huh?

One question:
Does this dude ever work?

[TM]

It was either go for a bike ride or discuss the plan to invade Syria.

[Walter Wallis]

How many instrument landings in Kerry's log book?

[eric]

Well, at least he didn't blame it on one of those "son-of-a-bitch" secret service agents, ala the snowboarding (flip)flopper.

[capt joe]

I would prefer Syria myself, but that is just me.

[G C]

No, Eric, he just blamed it on the fact that "it's been raining a lot and the topsoil is loose," even though according to weatherchannel.com it hasn't rained in Crawford for seven days.

[Ivan]

GC, GW didn't blame it on anything...his spokesman is the one that said the topsoil was loose. You idiots will attempt to use ANYTHING if you think it hurts Bush. Your blind hatred and spite has become comical.

[Buddy Larsen]

I live 45 minutes from Crawford. The dominant topsoil on slopes is called "caliche". It's got a lot of bentonite it, a clay which becomes slippery and ubstable when hydrated, and on north-facing slopes, will retain moisture for quite a long time. The lower slopes especially, due to drainage, stay wet long after the last rainfall. What we will need to ascertain is, azimuth, attitude, angle of approach, and velocity. A good topo map, plus affidavitsfrom witnesses, a study of bike tireology, and at least two independant medical reports on the injuries, will set the groundwork for a full investigation, with perhaps a congessional hearing if it turns out that he fell on a southern exposure slope, which, according to my charts, should have been less slippery than the president may or may not have indicated. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom!

[TM]

Everyone's talking about the weather, but no one seems to keep track of what happened yesterday - so many forecats, so few retrospectives.

Here is an airport service for Waco which says there was no rain in the previous week. What did the President know, and when did he know it?!? (And is he letting a smile be his umbrella?)

[JGB]

Buddy, great post. I think we will also need an additional investigation into whether GW was actually present at the time of the fall, or whether he was in fact AWOL from the bike ride. In any event, I understand that his bike has never been in acutal combat, whereas John Kerry's has sustained at least three small combat scratches.

[Richar R]

Walter, Kerry has plenty of approaches logged - he's not current now, but he was at the beginning of the campaign.

OTOH, Kerry fell off his bike a couple of weeks ago. http://tinyurl.com/32z75

And Bush's spokesman - when pressed for the cause - said it *MIGHT* have been wet topsoil.

Why did Kerry say something that stupid? Because he thought it was funny and sharp. Which says more about Kerry than about Bush.

Ask not what your country can do for you.
Ask what your country can do for John F. Kerry.

[Brainster]

Willie Style, what percentage of votes has Kerry been present for this year? He's happy to continue drawing his paycheck, but he has voted about 15% of the time this year. Even the most feverish anti-Bush screed-meisters don't accuse him of taking 85% of the time off.

BTW, no comment about Kerry's bike spill a few weekends ago?

[chris]

I think it speaks volumes about the derth of serious discussions about serious issues that this is news at all

[Tim]

Chris,

Agreed. Nothing Kerry said changes the fact he's bin Laden's candidate for president.

[Bill Peschel]

And North Korea's. . . .

[moptop]

And Iran's

[william]

I've fallen off bikes. Bikes are dangerous. Why are they still legal?

[william]

Come on guys, things are going bad for Bush in Iraq and al Qaeda saws off someone's head. You're telling me that al Qaeda wasn't trying to help Bush?

[DoesAnyoneHaveABurningDesireForKerryToBePrez?]

Actually, it was a pretty good zinger; albeit in a junior high school kind of way.

And that's about all the news I heard from the Kerry camp this week. Which just reinforces my view of Kerry as an uninspiring candidate who isn't quite up to the job of CinC.

[zamma]

Likely, it's shameless Karl Rove fabrication designed to garner sympathy for Bush.

If it really happened (which I doubt), then it just further demonstrates Bush's incompetence.

[Matt]

Riiiiiiiiight.

Why the $@# would Kerry have to defend himself against a smart-assed comment? Bush isn't crying regardless of what JFK said, I promise. It was a semi-clever cut, made in the moment, worth a chuckle then MOVE ON!

No, wait- Karl Rove has manipulated Kerry into hurting GW's feelings so as to unfairly co-opt the 'I vote sensitive guys for president' vote. It's BRILLIANT! it's EVIL! it's STUPID!

wait... nevermind

[Lord Worfin]

Wait a minute- I thought there was no connection between al Qaeda and Iraq? What are they doing killing some poor bastard kidnapped in Iraq on videotape?

[TM]

Maybe George Tenet provided the weather briefing?

[Millie Woods]

It is a long standing policy of the media to paint all left-leaning politicians as sports aces when they are nothing of the sort. Remember the Kennedys and touch football - oh my gosh seeing them run was pitiable. The same thing happened in Canada with the late Pierre Trudeau. My husband was an amateur racing driver so I spent a lot of my time at the track at Mont Tremblant. Trudeau deigned one race day to grace the track with his presence and everything had to be put on hold as he tried to tour around in his Mercedes sports car - the titchy engined pretend muscular jobby for image conscious idiots who wanted to make an impression. Get that sob off the track was the officials response but the next day the media ran a story about how he 'coulda been a contendah' if he'd wanted to. Plus ca change comme on dit en francais. Lefties can ace anything; their opponents are knuckle dragging clods.

[Adam Kotsko]

I, for one, am outraged that anyone would ever say something mean-spirited about George W. Bush, and if the media doesn't jump all over this story with the same alacrity and zeal with which it is reporting on the so-called "abuses" perpetrated by Our Military, it will be definitive proof that the liberal media is completely morally blind and depraved.

[ed]

Woot!

Yeah! You anti-Bush guys are great! The more you talk, the more you irritate the moderate voters.

Keep up the good fight!

[Xrlq]

Kerry must have forgotten what they say about people living in glass houses. Did his training wheels fall off, too?

[AST]

The only reason anybody is even talking about this is Kerry's stupid claim that "I don't fall down!" after he fell down snowboarding, and his blaming it on a secret service agent whom he called a son of a bitch.

How Bush falling while riding a mountain bike has anything to do with the first story is beyond me, unless he claims he was pushed by an s.o.b bodyguard. I can't tell from Kerry's little joke whether he disagrees with the "training wheel" policy or was just being witty. He hasn't really explained his own exit strategy.

[william]

"Wait a minute- I thought there was no connection between al Qaeda and Iraq?"

Technically there isn't. 'al Qaeda' is just one of those overused generalizations. Funny thing is, they arrested 4 Iraqis while the fifth culprit, Zarqawi (if he's really alive), remains elusive. Can you say Goldstein?

[lk]

If he said it, it's a good quip. Bush needs a mouthful of dirt, maybe will make him think of all the soldiers he sent to Iraq. Did he have his helmet on, or was he being macho?

[jetage]

I'm surprised Karl let him ride a bicycle. Neo-cons and real men on the right ride hogs and pickups -- never faggy bicycle. Was he wearing Speedo's, too?

[Iron Fist]

AST,

He was being Half-witty :-P

And everyone knows Kerry's exit strategy.

He's going to surrender to France.

[The Lonewacko Blog]

Kerry's a roadie. At least Bush has the good sense to ride a mountain bike.

[sean]

you say bike accident I say drunkard awol coke addict. You say un-American traitor I say thrice purple heart recipient and silver star awardee.

Repugs, dems, it doesn't matter. Just tell me when it's time for me to break out the guns and destroy every last one of you un-American traitor repugs. Yes. "liberals" do have guns. We use them well.

In the immortal words of that most infamous of drunkards, "Bring it on"

[James Stephenson]

Sean, put down that bottle. Clean up a little bit.

You say Purple Heart recipient I see a guy who never missed a day on the boat taking three purple hearts so he could get the hell out of Vietnam in 4 months.

And the AWOL story has been so debunked you would have to be a moron to still be talking about it.

[Greg]

Contrast GWB getting back on the bike and finishing his 17 mile ride, while Flippy got in the car and rode home after his fall.

[Cecil Turner]

It's the wittiest thing Kerry's said all campaign. If he could apply the same neurons to a coherent WoT strategy, he might start cookin'.

[J_Crater]

This isn't witty, but rather snide. It has been these sorts of snide remarks regarding Bush's coalition members that make Kerry look like an idiotic school boy that a statesman. Just how many of the foriegn leader will follow the lead of snotty nose school boy, who will cut them up when it suits his purposes.

[HH]

"Does this dude ever work?"

That meme is pretty hilarious coming from supporters of a candidate who has the worst record of voting in the Senate seen in a long time... There's also the little problem of Kerry wiping out on his bike not long ago.