[weary sarcasm]
Faking a wedding video to cover their sinister smuggling . . . are there no depths these clever fiends will sink to?
[/weary sarcasm]

More on the wedding: here, here, and here.

The inherent problem is that too many people have bought into Bush so completely that changing their mind would mean admitting they were wrong. People hate admitting that they're wrong. The best we can hope for is that W's less fervent supporters will stay away from the polls.

This administration is so wrapped in the Big Lie that nothing they do or say surprises me anymore. I'm just waiting for the two-minutes hate to start appearing during prime-time, right in between American Idol and 24. And the news that the gasoline ration has been raised to 12 gallons.

It's not just the Big Lie, though. It's the constant lying. Even when there's no need for it. Why lie about the rainfall in Crawford? Don't they realize people can look that up easily? And what's the point? If they'd just said "it was an accident", no one would have given it a second thought. But no, it's as if it's not allowed for anything ever to be Bush's fault. This isn't an Imperial Presidency. It's a Medieval Presidency. They seem to think he rules by Divine Right and can do absolutely no wrong.

Ahem: The idea of rule by "divine right", as in "the divine right of kings", is as "medieval" as a Palm Pilot. I.e., not.

Actual "medieval" covers a lot of centuries, but if you want to talk about feudalism, start with the fact that in in the medieval great chain o' being, social obligations ran both ways. It took the Renaissance and modern times to come up with ideologies in which might made unfettered right on a human face forever.

I have to think that they don't even care that we know they're lying. The mountain bike lie is just that. Anyone who's ridden a bike -- even only on pavement -- knows that falls can happen, even more so on dirt, and you can get some really and truly ugly looking, but minor, damage from doing so. Furthermore, on knobby tires, it's easy to slip on hardpack dirt -- and hardpack hurts more.

This whole 'Oh, it was wet, therefore, slippery, therefore, he fell.' is just them being insulting. If they'd said "He was going downhill, caught a rock and went over," every MTB rider in the world would have just nodded and said 'Ahh, faceplant. Bummer, dude.'

Hell, I've fallen on pavement, at speed, going in a straight line. (I was reaching for a water bottle, didn't notice a rock that was large enough to kick my tire sideways in the wrong direction.) The *enourmous* scrape on my leg (from roughly halfway down my calf to the shorts) looked horrifying, and hurt a bit, but the damage was far less worse to me than it looked. It happens. No big deal. Hell, I can feel for a guy who takes a header on a bike. So why the lame, and plainly false, excuse?

My gut feeling is that the lies aren't for those who don't believe BushCo. They're for the suckers who do -- they won't check.

Either that, or they're so convinced that they've won that they don't even bother to try and make the lies convincing.

I have to think that they don't even care that we know they're lying. The mountain bike lie is just that. Anyone who's ridden a bike -- even only on pavement -- knows that falls can happen, even more so on dirt, and you can get some really and truly ugly looking, but minor, damage from doing so. Furthermore, on knobby tires, it's easy to slip on hardpack dirt -- and hardpack hurts more.

This whole 'Oh, it was wet, therefore, slippery, therefore, he fell.' is just them being insulting. If they'd said "He was going downhill, caught a rock and went over," every MTB rider in the world would have just nodded and said 'Ahh, faceplant. Bummer, dude.'

Hell, I've fallen on pavement, at speed, going in a straight line. (I was reaching for a water bottle, didn't notice a rock that was large enough to kick my tire sideways in the wrong direction.) The *enourmous* scrape on my leg (from roughly halfway down my calf to the shorts) looked horrifying, and hurt a bit, but the damage was far less worse to me than it looked. It happens. No big deal. Hell, I can feel for a guy who takes a header on a bike. So why the lame, and plainly false, excuse?

My gut feeling is that the lies aren't for those who don't believe BushCo. They're for the suckers who do -- they won't check.

Either that, or they're so convinced that they've won that they don't even bother to try and make the lies convincing.

I have to think that they don't even care that we know they're lying. The mountain bike lie is just that. Anyone who's ridden a bike -- even only on pavement -- knows that falls can happen, even more so on dirt, and you can get some really and truly ugly looking, but minor, damage from doing so. Furthermore, on knobby tires, it's easy to slip on hardpack dirt -- and hardpack hurts more.

This whole 'Oh, it was wet, therefore, slippery, therefore, he fell.' is just them being insulting. If they'd said "He was going downhill, caught a rock and went over," every MTB rider in the world would have just nodded and said 'Ahh, faceplant. Bummer, dude.'

Hell, I've fallen on pavement, at speed, going in a straight line. (I was reaching for a water bottle, didn't notice a rock that was large enough to kick my tire sideways in the wrong direction.) The *enourmous* scrape on my leg (from roughly halfway down my calf to the shorts) looked horrifying, and hurt a bit, but the damage was far less worse to me than it looked. It happens. No big deal. Hell, I can feel for a guy who takes a header on a bike. So why the lame, and plainly false, excuse?

My gut feeling is that the lies aren't for those who don't believe BushCo. They're for the suckers who do -- they won't check.

Either that, or they're so convinced that they've won that they don't even bother to try and make the lies convincing.

Erik, I agree.

I think it's fair to assume then that Bush was in fact whistling show tunes following the accident. The smart money is on "Pick Yourself Up," by Dorothy Fields and Jerome Kern:

"Nothing's impossible I have found,
For when my chin is on the ground,
I pick myself up,
Dust myself off,
Start all over again."

Erik, when learning how to navigate clipped-in, I ended up going a wee bit too slow, and went over like that guy in the raincoat on "Laugh In."

I felt stupid (and had a few choice bruises and scrapes), but I never, ever lied about how it happened.

Because if I had lied about it, I would have felt even MORE stupid.

It took the Renaissance and modern times to come up with ideologies in which might made unfettered right on a human face forever.

I was right with you until this last sentence. Certainly Legalism, as expounded by Han Fei Tzu and praticed by Shih Huang Ti (and others) would qualify as such an ideology ("therefore virtue has its origin in punishment"). Over in the West, I don't know that anyone had a philosophical basis for totalitarian-style rule, but I'd argue that certain Roman emperors (among others) were pretty close to it.

Your original point in re the use of "medieval" was of course spot on.

Everyone, but everyone, will fall at least once when learning to ride on clipless pedals. It's just part of the process. You went through the same thing with toe clips and straps, if you were using them properly. You were used to just pulling your foot off the bike, now, you have to pull *just so*. A

My funniest fall happened at, oh, 0 miles an hour, on my first ride with clipless. I'm home, I clear my left foot, see a rock, put my left back on the pedal (which, amusingly enough, clips right in -- for the first time, a no effort clip) I dodge the rock, stop, and set my foot down. Which, of course, doesn't move. I slowly fall over. I laugh.

I assume anyone riding clipless who hasn't fallen is lying. It's just part of the deal.

And sorry about the triple up there. Shub-Internet must have a stomach virus.

The nice corollary to my funny-to-everyone-who-wasn't-me bonk was that later that weekend, my then-boyfriend (who had been standing next to me in the parking lot during said fall and, to his credit, did not laugh) proposed.

He had been intending to do it somewhere along the course of the bike ride, but I was so frustrated and cranky because of the clipless pedals, I had inadvertantly kiboshed his scheme. Luckily for me, he's got fortitude and patience.

The basic rules of lying are, tell as much of the truth as you can and don't embroider if you don't have to. Both of those rules make it easier to keep your story straight.

So they're lying, when they don't have to. Why?

Kind explanation - the spokesman got it wrong, there was no wet dirt, just loose topsoil.

Not-so-kind explanation - the whole story is a lie to explain the visible abrasions. "They fell for the pretzel story, let's see how this flies".

There are plenty of plausible not-so-kind alternative explanations for those abrasions. Drunken faceplant in the carpet. Getting smacked around by Laura or Uncle Karl for one of his many shortcomings in the recent weeks. Knock-down-drag-out fight with Jenna about graduation and her having to join his campaign.

I'm having too much fun here, I'd better quit.

At least this story isn't as lame as the pretzel incident or falling off the Segway.

Does John Kerry understand that his first job as president is not to clean up the Republicans' mess, but to destroy the Republican party?

Drunken faceplant in the carpet

Ha. Maybe Dubya finally decided to fact-check his minions by screwing up his courage and reading the news -- and has been on the sauce since....

There was a while where I subscribed to the evil-Dubya theory, but lately, I'm starting to believe more in the shallow, stupid Dubya who means (relatively) well within his limited moral scope, but is surrounded by sharks. I know this kind of dimwit. Who was it who said, "One thing I know is that the President of the United States is supposed to be smarter than me?"

Well, at least they change the story each time, instead of asking us to believe he hit a doorknob again.

Here's a thought. Maybe they see themselves as being in the entertainment industry. Maybe there's a TV network somewhere where "The Bush Show" is the top-rated phenom, now in its 35th year.

One additional thought, based on my own experience of yesterday...

Reports here in the UK was that he was near the end of a long run. I don't know how fit the guy is, but that is the sort of situation where you are more likely to have a fall.

Personally, I reckon he went over when he hit the ruts left by all those Secret Service SUVs carrying the escort.

Patrick, don't tell me you miss the grace of iron clothing.

They like to lie. They enjoy it, enjoy getting away with it, enjoy getting over on the press, "Prove it, suckers. Dare ya to contradict."

Patrick's title says it all. Watch Bush, at almost any time. The smirk, the sneer is constant.
If it isn't there, it is because he is deliberately trying to avoid it. Look at Bush's history. Getting over, pulling a fast one, deceiving is the man's reason for living.

Whether it had been raining recently or not is irrelevant.

Bush carries his own slippery slope with him, 24/7.

(And yes, I should really be in the other room, on the other computer, working on my writing, right now.)