"The NY Times reports today (Cheney's Needs On the Road: What, No NPR?"" by Elisabeth Bumiller, P. A16),Cheney carries a stationary bike on Air Force Two when he travels.
Hmm, was this another idea Bush got from Cheney since Bush, too, travels with a bike?
When they take purely political trips, which, therefore, are not paid for by the government, they or some entity must pay their fare. Question: Do they have to pay $75, as we do, to fly their bikes?
_____
Note to my detractors: Spare me your invective. I'm kidding."
Poor marksman can't hunt quail inside plane so he does this...
Fri, 03/24/2006 - 8:19am
Fri, 03/24/2006 - 9:52am
#1
Pres. Red and Blue quotes
"""Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride."" - John F. Kennedy
""I'm gonna show you a hill that would choke a mule."" -- President G.W. Bush on his MTB moments before losing his front-wheel traction and flying over his bars down a steep dropoff."
Fri, 03/24/2006 - 2:27pm
#2
I dunno...
"Wasn't JFK high as a kite most of the time and damn near crippled from his injuries/illnesses? Maybe he just cruised around Hyanis checking out the ladies– that is where he seems to have gotten his ""pleasures.""
Politically, I'm no fan of Bush, but how come when a President takes a face-plant on his bike, it's a defining moment, but when some Mt bike pro does it, they're just pushing the envelope and taking their roadrash in stride and no one makes them out to be a fool for it?"
Fri, 03/24/2006 - 10:50pm
#3
Well, Bill, now that you've raised the issue...
"O.K., my friend, you've provoked me into going where I hoped to resist going; but, then, you knew I couldn't stand aside this fray.
Bush's handlers are so insistent about creating a personality cult around this man and surrounding him with a silly patina of heroism that they just had to announce when he went down one time while cycling on trails on his ranch that his fall was due to the rain in the area that had done something or other, it was contended to the (top?)soil. So, on a hunch, I called the nearest TV station to Crawford which is in Waco, and spoke to their weather department, and did the same with the little paper that is in Crawford to learn what the rainfall at been.
It hadn't rained that day or in the nine preceding days. The tenth preceding day there had been a ""trace"" amount of rain.
On another occasion the White House announced Bush averaged 17 MPH for his 12 or 20 mile trail ride (I± can't remember which it was but it was one or the other of those announced numbers.) The trail was rough as one might imagine: rocky, tree stumps, et al. 17MPH? World and International Champion MTB riders seem to win at speeds around 15MPH.
This is so unneccessary on the part of the White House. Isn't it good enough that the guy rides. Why do they do it?
Oh, and let us recall the Secret Service and others didn't see fit to interrupt the president's mid-week, midday ride in Maryland to notify him a plane had entered forbidden Washington air space and offices were evacuated."
