Thread: Bush almost macs it!

Bush Golfs, Fishes, Tumbles on Holiday Weekend
Fri Jun 13, 3:49 PM ET Add Politics to My Yahoo!


By Patricia Wilson

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (Reuters) - For a U.S. president, taking vacation can be risky business.

Pictures of George W. Bush tumbling off a personal scooter, hooking a golf drive and tossing back a fish had at least one Democrat baiting the White House on Friday.


"Hard at work during the Mideast crisis, health care crisis and jobs crisis," read the headline on a news release from the office of Democratic Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin.


But a long weekend at the six-acre, stone-and-shingle family compound perched on a promontory stretching into the Atlantic Ocean isn't all play and no work for Bush.


He still has his daily intelligence and national security briefings, attends to paperwork and makes phone calls. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) said the president consulted by telephone with his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), on developments in the Middle East and Iraq (news - web sites).


Rice's deputy, Stephen Hadley, and deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin are with him at Walker's Point in the seaside village of Kennebunkport, the Bush clan's traditional summer getaway for more than 100 years.


Just after dawn, the president and his father, former President George Bush, who turned 79 on Thursday, drove up to the first tee at the Cape Arundel Golf Club with a cheery "Good morning, everybody!"


After a couple of warm up drives -- the current president's first effort was a left hook into the mud flats of the Kennebunk River -- the duo headed off, father at the wheel, son's feet up on the dashboard, ignoring a shouted question about the prospects for his Middle East peace "road map."


A little more than two hours later, they were at the 18th green where Bush tried to will his last putt into the hole. It missed. Presidential scores are traditionally classified, but as they left, the senior Bush was overheard to remark: "It's not all about winning."


The Bushes, who treat relaxation as if it were a competitive sport, soon headed out in their Fidelity II power boat, stopping briefly at several spots along the rocky coastline to fish. The son, nattily attired in a leather jacket accessorized with blue-tinted reflective sunglasses, caught at least one fish that he returned to the water.


Shortly after arriving at the family home on Thursday, Bush shed his suit and tie for shorts and a tee-shirt. He was photographed trying out a Segway, a stand-up electric scooter with gyroscopes to help keep vehicle and passenger upright. When the machine toppled over, Bush stayed on his feet and was unhurt.


"I thought he made a particularly excellent rebound," Fleischer said. "He looked very athletic as he emerged."


Bush will stay in Kennebunkport through Father's Day on Sunday. On Monday he will stop in Orange, New Jersey, to talk about tax breaks for small




The segway is supposed to be the world's first dynamically stabilized, self-balancing Human Transporter

Now I don't feel so jealous that I can't afford to own one them.
Amazon has them for sale. I couldn't believe the price. Here is a little movie if you want to see one in action.