A day in the life of President Bush (and RBC tribute) 8/20/05; many photos

WhiteHouse.gov; various news sources ^ | 8/20/05

[Wolfstar]

PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY: Following is and excerpt from the AP story published just a few minutes ago on Yahoo about the President's bike ride with Lance Armstrong. (Click the link on the headline below to read the whole article.) The two Texans have been friends for years, although Armstrong's politics are Left of center.

Armstrong, Bush Ride 'Tour De Crawford'
By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago

WACO, Texas - It's no yellow jersey, but President Bush on Saturday presented Lance Armstrong with another shirt to show off his biking experiences — a red, white and blue T-shirt emblazoned "Tour de Crawford."

The leader of the free world and the world's biking master rode for 17 miles on Bush's ranch for about two hours at midmorning. Bush showed Armstrong the sites of the ranch that he calls "a little slice of heaven," including a stop at a waterfall midway through the ride.

They were accompanied by a small group of staff and Secret Service agents and a film crew from the Discovery Channel, Armstrong's Tour de France sponsor, which had exclusive media access for the ride. Footage was shot for a program on Armstrong to air next week.

At the end of the ride, Bush gave Armstrong and the rest of the riders the T-shirts, which said "Tour de Crawford" on the front in Western-style rope script and "Peloton One" -— a reference to the densely packed group of riders in a race -— on the back. Bush also gave them red, white and blue riding socks with the presidential seal on the inner ankle.

After the presentation, Duffy said, they posed for pictures and the president announced, "OK, let's go swimming." Armstrong and the rest of the group were invited to stay for lunch.

THE WEEK AHEAD:On Monday, August 22nd, the President will make remarks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention that's being held in Salt Lake City, Utah; open press. He will remain overnight in Donnelly, Idaho.

Tuesday, there are no public events. However, he will remain in Donnelly for some fishing.

Wednesday, August 24th, the President will make remarks on the war on terror in Nampa, Idaho. And then he'll return to the ranch that night.

DUMB MEDIA QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK: From the press gaggle conducted by assistant WH press secretary Dana Perino on Thursday. Note how the print and broadcast media seem annoyed that they don't get to cover the bike ride. Of course, most of them haven't seen the sunny side of a bike ride since they were kids (if then), and would be unable to keep up with GWB and Lance Armstrong. And they all hate the Texas heat. But they're annoyed anyway.

Q What are the coverage plans for Lance Armstrong's visit on Saturday?

MS. PERINO: It is closed press. The White House will release a photograph. Discovery Channel has an exclusive to tapes and video.

Q So Discovery Channel is doing filming?

MS. PERINO: Yes.

Q I can't hear a thing. That was Lance Armstrong?

MS. PERINO: Lance Armstrong will be here on Saturday to --

Q That's closed press?

MS. PERINO: It is closed press.

Q No pool, nothing?

MS. PERINO: No pool.

Q They're going to be biking entirely within the confines of the ranch. Is that true?

MS. PERINO: That's my understanding, yes.

Q And Discovery Channel has an exclusive what? How are they doing that?

MS. PERINO: To shoot some video.

Q Can you repeat what -- I couldn't hear Dick. Your understanding is what about the biking?

MS. PERINO: He asked if they riding within the confines of the ranch boundaries, and I think that's true.

THEME -- SALUTING DICK AND LYNNE CHENEY: On September 11, 2001, a scene Hollywood has enjoyed portraying many, many times met real life in deadly earnest as a Vice President of the United States rose to face and help manage an immense national crisis.

In contrast to typical Hollywood characters, however, the real Vice President on that dark day was anything but the politically correct figure tinsel-town always chooses for it's fictional VP. Dick Cheney was -- horrors! -- a graying, balding, sixty-ish, overweight, white male Republican from deepest fly-over country. He was also a former heavy smoker with a history of heart trouble. As such, he was anathema to the Left.

Yet on 9/11, Dick Cheney was rock-steady, calm, and able to draw on one of the most impressive resumes ever brought to the vice presidency. It was as if his entire life had been forged -- indeed, spared several times -- to prepare him for his service to the nation that singular day. We should all humbly thank God for giving us this quiet, reserved, resolute, great man in our time of greatest need. He is one of the most historically significant vice presidents in our history other than those who went on to become presidents.

The vice presidency is a largely ceremonial office endowed under the Constitution with only two official duties, president of the Senate and replacement if the POTUS becomes incapacitated or dies in office. Thus, Vice President Cheney could have left Washington on that day, but he didn't. He could have gone to the secure bunker deep under the White House and stayed out of the decision-making loop, but he didn't. He could have worried more about his own political and personal future, and his own family, but he didn't. Instead, he stayed in the White House, manning the National Presidential Emergency Operations Center, working closely with the President, and coordinating the response in the nation's capitol. The Vice President on that day was incredibly brave, selfless and heroic. No matter what the moonbat Leftists say about him, Dick Cheney deserves every respect and honor our nation can bestow.

Secretary of Defense Richard B. Cheney was awarded our nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush. He may not be eligible to receive it again (don't know if they award it more than once). So, as the 4th anniversary of 9/11 rapidly approaches, the Dose takes this moment to thank Vice President Cheney and his wonderful wife, Lynne, for their long service to our great nation.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: Excerpts from "The Wisdom of Choosing Dick Cheney," by Gerald R. Ford and Bob Dole, Op-Ed piece, The New York Time, Monday, July 31, 2000 (entire Op-Ed can be found at the Ford Library with this link: www.ford.utexas.edu/library

...we are delighted by the selection of Dick Cheney to help implement Mr. Bush's inclusive vision. Ironically, the shrill reaction of some Democrats to the Cheney nomination only confirms the timeliness of Governor Bush's pledge to restore civility to Washington.

Like Dick Cheney himself, most Americans evince a basic fairness. They know decency and character when they see it. They also recognize a manufactured controversy when it spills across their television screens. Political labels aside, such voters share a bipartisan disdain for the sterile name-calling that has crowded honest debate off the political stage. And debate, after all, is what a campaign should be all about. The honest airing of our differences, not the poisonous rhetoric that demeans even as it disillusions.

If experience counts for anything -- and it ought to -- the Bush-Cheney slate is one of the most abundantly qualified in memory. As the youngest ever White House chief of staff, Mr. Cheney displayed the qualities instinctively recognized by Governor Bush and most fair-minded voters: a towering intelligence and probity, razor-sharp judgment, and a seriousness of purpose that is the antithesis of modern political spin. Yet there is much more to Dick Cheney than his resume. We know him as a man of conviction, whose principles include respecting others with whom he differs. He has adversaries but no enemies.

Mr. Cheney also represents an unconventional choice, if only because of the transparent merit which motivated his selection. This alone makes him a refreshing alternative to the usual electoral calculations. He was selected less because he could help Governor Bush get elected than because he could help a president Bush govern. And to do so in a way that will help restore popular respect for tarnished institutions.

[snugs]

I agree you can see how comfortable and in control of the discussion/meeting the VP is that he has automatically chosen his informal way of sitting, he is probably is totally unaware he has done so.

[snugs]

Snugs, aren't you a BIG fan of Chaney?

"Indeed I am"- take a look at my profile page there are some lovely photos of the Cheneys there.

[snugs]

I think is was Chris Matthews that coined that phrase after the VP debate someone will correct me if I am wrong.

He said that the VP had done everything apart from ask John Edwards to hand over his car keys like a father would if he did not trust the son to drive (I am paraphrasing slightly here but that was the gist of it in otherwords Edwards had been made to look like a boy who you would not trust to drive themselves.)

[snugs]

Here are the dog ones for you, hope you get help sorting the memorabilia of your father out, is there a local WW2 enthusiast or society that could help

The Photos of the Month of of Barney and Miss Beazley's so far this year from the White House Website

January 2005 - Barney keeps a close watch as Miss Beazley checks out his soccer ball.

February 2005 - Barney takes a break from frolicking in the Washington, DC snow to pose for a photo

March 2005 - Barney investigates some treats left for him as he visits the Oval Office

April 2005 - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is greeted by President George W. Bush and Barney upon the Prime Minister's arrival Monday, April 11, 2005, to the President's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

May 2005 - Barney on the South Lawn of the White House with his ball May 2, 2005

June 2005 - Miss Beazley runs along a road June 4, 2005 at the Bush Ranch, in Crawford, Texas

July 2005 - Barney and Miss Beazley drink water from a bowl outside at the White House, July 20, 2005, on a hot day in Washington

August 2005 - Miss Beazley plays with a ball along the South Lawn

[snugs]

Thanks for the info

[DollyCali]

Morning Snugs, all

thank you Snugs and to wolfstar for the great Dose. I haven't seen most of pix but have seen the captions so far & it looks like a real keeper.

My pictures began loading when I got home around midnight & they were a lot of red x;s this AM. have refreshed & got more. A better system & cable would no doubt help this. Just refreshed but thought I would never post is I waited for the all pix before commenting.

Re: the bike ride. the 17 miles that the duo did was NOT a long ride for cyclists. What made the ride challenging is the terrain. There is a big difference in road riding & off road riding. And there is a big difference in doing the activity competitively.

Doncha know that as much as the president wanted to (and felt gleeful about) leave the journalist behind in a cloud of dust, there was something in him to really push with the undisputed best cyclist in the world.

off road is more difficult & there are a whole lot more opportunities for injury.

[snugs]

Dolly try both tricks of right click and show picture and also copying the URLs to your browser's address line and see if you can view the picture that way very often when you press back the photo is showing. I had to do this for a couple of the photos myself and I am back on cable again.

[silent_jonny]

Thank you both for these great photos and a great Dose. Many of these pictures I have never seen before.

[snugs]

Glad you enjoyed it Jonny that was exactly Wolfstar's idea to show as many photos as possible that a lot of people may not have either seen before or not for a long time and use these photos to give a brief pictorial history to the VP's Governmental/Political career. I then found other photos either of the same event or complimentary.

[an italian]

Dick... We are on time to get the World FREE!! Let's roll!!

[JustaCowgirl]

He could have gone to the secure bunker deep under the White House and stayed out of the decision-making loop, but he didn't. He could have worried more about his own political and personal future, and his own family, but he didn't. Instead, he stayed in the White House, manning the National Presidential Emergency Operations Center, working closely with the President, and coordinating the response in the nation's capitol. The Vice President on that day was incredibly brave, selfless and heroic. No matter what the moonbat Leftists say about him, Dick Cheney deserves every respect and honor our nation can bestow.

What a marvelous tribute you created to a wonderful man and incredibly faithful public servant, Wolfstar. What you said about his actions on 9/11 is so true. It bespeaks the fear the left has for the power of his dedication and trueness of spirit that they cannot let him have any credit for it.

He deserves the highest honors our country can bestow on him. I hope that someday the majority of the rest of the country will see through all the slime that has been thrown and realize the quality of the man that some of us 'more perceptive' individuals can see.

[JustaCowgirl]

There are even some photos of the VP I hadn't seen before, jonny, and you know how hard that is to do! Thanks so much, Wolfstar and snugs, for all the effort.

Someone said that RBC looked like Truman in this pic below. I can see that resemblance, but my first thought when I saw the picture was that he looked like Rudy Guiliani. It's his expression and the way he's holding his body, and that stride, I think.

[Wolfstar]

Pinging you to a brief Sunday update. The President and First Lady (and the dogs) had no public appearances scheduled today. However, there is an enlarged photo of the GWB-LA bike ride pic on the WH website, and I'm posting it below.

Also, a heads up: I will not do the Dose next Saturday, but will switch it to Sunday for next weekend only. I'll be out of town on Saturday the 27th. As the week progresses, if it should look like GWB might have some public appearances next Saturday, I'll try to arrange for a backup to do it on the 27th. Otherwise, there should be no harm in doing it Sunday.

[STARWISE]

You're right .... the body language does resemble Giuliani.

[Wolfstar]

The larger version of the "Tour de Crawford" photo released by the WH yesterday. This one is from the WH website, where the caption reads: President George W. Bush and 2005 Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong take a ride together through a field of sunflowers on the President's ranch in Crawford, Texas on August 20, 2005.

Some nitwit reporterette on CBS News last night said that the President was in the lead, and snidely said that she guessed rank does have its privileged. All that showed to me was that she's a total dunce who doesn't have a clue about photographic perspective. The photographer was standing ahead of where the two bikers were entering the frame, some distance away, and also slightly above their plane of travel. Photography flattens depth. Both bikers are actually even with each other, but the photographic perspective make it appear that GWB is about a foot or so ahead of LA. Some reporters just have to try twisting a nasty spin out of even something as positive and non-political as yesterday's bike ride. Blech!!!

[STARWISE]

HERE!

[Wolfstar]

Good day, STARWISE. I wonder if there are any Dosers who plan to participate in the caravans to Crawford next weekend. I wish I could.

[STARWISE]

ME, too! The Patriots have started arriving ..see my post #165. And, thanks again for that FABULOUS Dose yesterday .. just splendid.

[ohioWfan]

Oh, what a lovely welcome home photo! Thanks, Wolfstar!

[ohioWfan]

After the presentation, Duffy said, they posed for pictures and the president announced, "OK, let's go swimming." Armstrong and the rest of the group were invited to stay for lunch.

Looks like the President has learned to appreciate the "whining pool." ;)