Per FR rules...
Posted on 08/22/2005 9:56:22 AM PDT by against_kerry
By Patrick O’Grady VeloNews editor at large This report filed August 19, 2005 A few irate letter-writers have suggested that we keep politics out of cycling here at VeloNews.com, and we can see their points, once they've removed their Bush-Cheney 2004 caps. After all, the liars, cheaters and dopers infesting politics might teach cycling's liars, cheaters and dopers a few new tricks, and God knows it's already tough enough to tell who's on the up and up these days, no matter how much blood gets drawn or spilled.
Still, if the daily papers are going to cover the Recreationist-in-Chief's mountain-bike rides as though they were actually news, it's only right that cycling publications occasionally take note of his political shenanigans. Fair is fair.
Cyclist of the year?
photo: Patrick O'Grady (a composite based on better men's work
And besides, if you snip the politics out of the much-ballyhooed weekend mountain-bike outing involving Bush and Lance Armstrong, you have no story at all, beyond two public figures scratching each others' backs, which is only notable if both are naked except for a little chocolate sauce.
Armstrong may be retired from racing, but he's still on the clock as an anti-cancer spokesman, and it's important to have the ear of the president on such matters, assuming he can keep it out of the dirt long enough to hear what Lance has to say on the topic.
Dubya is not retired, though he often acts like it. Especially this weekend, when he will spend a little time on our dime basking in the reflected glow of a Texan who is still popular with many Americans who are still alive. You can't buy publicity like that, though the White House has certainly tried. Hell, if I were Dubya, I would captain for stoker Barney Frank on a pink tandem, during a Gay Pride Ride, in prime time during sweeps week, if I thought it would draw the nation's eyeballs away from my misadventure in Iraq and Cindy Sheehan's slightly less stylish sojourn in the buzzworm-infested ditches outside my Crawford getaway.
So let's not kid ourselves here. This isn't about one good-ol' boy inviting another to drop by the ranch for a friendly ride. This isn't a case of two guys who may disagree on political issues burying their differences in the name of velo-sport. This is a photo op', what we in the news business call "a grip-and-grin," and it has as much to do with bicycling as the war in Iraq does with bringing an end to global terrorism. Armstrong is using Dubya for his cancer crusade, and Dubya is using Lance to make himself look like less of a heartless prick. End of story.
Still, there is no question that both men have inspired others to take up cycling - Armstrong, through his seven consecutive Tour de France victories, and Bush, through economic policies that have left many jobless and/or unable to afford the steadily rising price of gasoline - and that has to count for something.
So with that in mind, I'd like to take up another of our letter-writers' concerns and nominate President George W. Bush as the 2005 VeloNews Cyclist of the Year.
Some cynics may quip that unlike his fellow Texan, Dubya has yet to finish one tour, much less win seven, and let me be the first. He didn't even start the Tour of Vietnam, then DNF'd at the Tour of Afghanistan in order to start the Tour of Iraq, a former classic in the British Empire Cup upgraded to quagmire status as the inaugural event in the Pentagon's Regime Change Series. Subsequent events TBD. Film at 11.
Still, if you were to ask most people on this war-torn globe which guy on a bicycle scares them the most, I think nine out of 10 would name Bush, not Armstrong.
Lance may have beaten 'em - but Dubya's killing 'em.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The often foaming rants of Patrick O'Grady reflect his views and not necessarily those of VeloNews, VeloNews.com, its staff, advertisers, next-door neighbors, their childrens' second-grade teachers, New York City taxi drivers, residents of Crawford, Texas, Meteetsee, Wyoming, or Colorado Springs. It is an opinion column and occasionally will contain an opinion or two... or three, most of which have bubbled up from the mind of a cranky old cyclo-cross racer who lives alone on top of a mountain in an undisclosed location in central Colorado. - Editor -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What does politics have to do with cycling? Beats us. Unless, of course, you happen to be a race promoter dealing with a city council, an advocacy organization trying to persuade Congress that Transportation Enhancements aren't just the fattest part of the pig, or a Marine lieutenant who missed the district TT championships because they weren't held in Baghdad. Your thoughts? Fire away. Please include your FULL NAME, CITY, STATE and/or COUNTRY.
Quite a pedantic little pedal pusher. Doesn't his bi-cycle have a seat?
And LIEbs wonder why Dems with all their LIEberal support can't win elections!
Pathetic. But I wouldn't have my adversaries any other way.
Media Bias PING
Per FR rules...
He ain't even close. (Not even close to close.)
And uh.... the rules? :)
Here, this one's on me... as it were.
Infantile pursuits are for infants.
So9
Sounds like *someone* needs a different bicycle seat.
That should qualify him. Fair and balanced (unlike Kerry)
BTW, I heard he served in Vietnam or something....
I knew there was a reason I let my subscription to Velonews experire, a long time ago, a really long time ago...
Semper Fi
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