Saturday, May 22, 2004

Bush and bicycles

CNN.com - Bush falls on bike ride - May 22, 2004
The picture of Bush post-bike fall, boarding his plane, is the only one I've seen that doesn't make my teeth itch. He actually looks like a human being.

He was on a 17 mile back country ride. One suspects this is not his first outing on a bike, but this is the first anyone's heard of it. Bike riding is "fey" and suspect in Texan culture, and in southern culture in general. I doubt that many Bush voters have been on a bicycle as an adult.

So this is actually interesting. Interesting because Bush turns out to have a minor dark secret, and interesting that his campaign decided to go public now. It wasn't staged, but I suspect Rove is on the lookout for anything that "humanizes" a (legitimately) demonized figure. Bush's base is so solid it won't hurt to expose more some predilections that the Bush base might consider peculiar or worrisome.

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