Argh!She's at it once more.
This time:
How could the Lincoln Memorial — “With malice toward none; with charity for all” — be as moving if the black neighborhoods of a charming American city were left to drown while the president mountain-biked?From what I understand, Bush was at John McCain's birthday party when Katrina hit.
Why does mountain biking have to be her go-to cliché for emphasizing Bush's puerility.
Is there a link or article to the first time she "hated" on mountain bikes? I guess I'm just not really seeing insult here - I don't know the back story to when she's done this before. Be it: mountain biking, or visiting a museum, or jogging, doing yoga or a keg-stand the point she's making is that he wasn't where he was supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Just curious.
here's the second most recent example: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/opinion/17dowd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
ReplyDeletethe reason I take such umbrage without her W mountain biking things is that it's her favorite example of the president's immaturity. as a mountain biker, I don't find that riding my bike in the woods speaks to my immaturity or anybody's for that matter. I don't like maureen dowd to begin with and get even angrier when she stupidly trivializes cycling.
another example of hating on bikes in mainstream culture (the movie part): http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2008/01/hiding-in-plain-sight-why-cycling-is.html
Then there's that State Farm ad that showed bicycle commuting as a humiliating experience that needs to be resorted to only when you can't afford your car.
ReplyDeleteA description here.
To State Farm's slight credit they pulled the ad and issued a mea culpa after the internet uproar.
as we're in hartford, do you ever fear that you'll be required to purchase bike insurance?
ReplyDeleteI'm with musegal on this one. It's not hating on mountain bikes to say that the president shouldn't be astride one at a time of national crisis, any more than it is hating on ranches in Texas to say that the president would have done well not to spend so much goddamn time at his, or hating on blowjobs to say that it was dumb of President Clinton to receive one in the Oval Office (esp. from a woman not his wife). I think we should give her the benefit of the Dowd (rimshot!) on this one.
ReplyDeletebut he was at john mccain's birthday party when katrina hit! she's over using the mountain bike thing.
ReplyDeletewhen bill clinton used to go jogging, no one used jogging as a metaphor for his shortcomings.
Because he jogged, but he also did the stuff he was supposed to do. Mountain biking is just Reasonable Dowd's go-to leisure activity, because the current president is an inveterate layabout. I will admit that the truth in this case, that GWB was at McCain's birthday party, has a lot of appeal because (a) McCain is a weird, grumpy dude who lost the election and (b) the whole idea of a McCain birthday party has humor potential because he is WICKED OLD.
ReplyDeleteseparately from this, I'm worried about Bush's lame dame deregulation of federal lands. On the one hand, it opens up more space to mountain bikes, and on the hand hand you'll get ATVs, and drilling, and hunting, and a whole host of band things.
ReplyDeletewhy must mountain biking be lumped in with that!?
Brendan, here's the real deal. Liberals like Maureen Dowd (and you) (and me) aren't necessarily terrorists, but they hate the same things that terrorists hate, which happen to be all the things that real Americans love, like offshore drilling and guns. And wouldn't you know it, the terrorists really really really hate mountain bikes. A lot. They only like road bikes. So when Maureen Dowd criticizes GWB for mountain biking, what she's really doing is criticizing him for loving freedom and thumbing his nose at the spandex-clad, skinny-tire-riding radicals who want to pry your gun from your cold, dead hands and all that.
ReplyDeleteAnd apparently Maureen Dowd enjoys lounging in a pinup pose with various gentlemen's magazines.
ReplyDeletespeak for yourself, I'm a Gail Collins liberal!
ReplyDeletewait...terrorists hate mountain bikes?
ReplyDeleteyeah, aren't mountain bikes the gasless equivalent of suvs or something?
ReplyDeleteTerrorists hate mountain bikes because they represent freedom. They also hate mixte frames, because those represent gender equality.
ReplyDeletehowever, the mountain biking in those remote desert strongholds for terrorists looks awesome. maybe they should deploy me to go smoke out osama.
ReplyDeleteactually, maybe those crazy looking freeriders would be better. they already like look they're getting ready for the moon.
well, I do have a beard. my friend will's army friends who returned from afghanistan last year said that I would fit in very well there.