Zing You Very Much

This from Just One Minute (referencing this story):

Bush falls off his mountain-bike; according to Drudge, "Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, 'Did the training wheels fall off?'... Reporters are debating whether to treat it is as on or off the record... Developing...".

OK, get past your first reaction, and open your mind to the possibility that this was a topical quip. Apparently, it was only yesterday that Bush was using a training wheel metaphor to describe Iraq:

"He talked about ‘time to take the training wheels off,"’ said Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio. "The Iraqi people have been in training, and now it’s time for them to take the bike and go forward."

That might have provided the inspiration for Kerry's attempt at humor; I suspect that will be the explanation, anyway.

How could anyone get the impression that Bush's training wheels comment was not the inspiration for Kerry's remark? Maybe I'm just "open minded"...

UPDATE: Surprise, surprise. Over at A Small Victory, Kerry's joke went over the princess's head. Singing her familiar song of outrage, Michele starts off with a little, "You want this petty, childish man as your president?" Then after a Mothra-like tantrum, she concludes with, "As far as insults go, I've seen a lot worse. But this just makes Kerry look stupid and small."

Hmmm... Speaking of worse, where have I seen a media-gaffe worse than this? That's right, I remember like it was yesterday...

From that bastion of liberal values, Tucker Carlson (via that other bastion of liberal values, the National Review Online):

In the week before [Karla Faye Tucker's] execution, Bush says, Bianca Jagger and a number of other protesters came to Austin to demand clemency for Tucker. "Did you meet with any of them?" I ask.

Bush whips around and stares at me. "No, I didn't meet with any of them," he snaps, as though I've just asked the dumbest, most offensive question ever posed. "I didn't meet with Larry King either when he came down for it. I watched his interview with [Tucker], though. He asked her real difficult questions, like 'What would you say to Governor Bush?' "

"What was her answer?" I wonder.

"Please," Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, "don't kill me."

And later in the same piece, from an author commenting on the Carlson article:

For sheer ugliness, nothing else in the article matches Bush's remarks on the death penalty. (When he sees Carlson's horrified reaction, Bush "immediately stops smirking": " 'It's tough stuff,' Bush says, suddenly somber, 'but my job is to enforce the law.'")

Two questions:

1) Why has the liberal media given little to no attention to this very much on-the-record comment?

2) You want this petty, childish man as your president?