triumph or tragedy?

this article appeared in the june 29 edition of the ny post. i had meant to post it during the week of july 4, as part of my patriotism series, but it slipped through the cracks. the author, deborah orin, billed as the post's "Washington bureau chief," routinely serves as a transparent mouthpiece for the GOP. (think of her as an ann coulter-lite.) so i was not surprised that this 'journalist' wrote such a puff piece. but i was quite surprised by the, shall we say, 'colorful' remarks, most of them attributed to the president, that orin put in--and that her editors left in. then again, that's why i love the post; it's so damn brazen.

BACK ON TRACK
AMPUTEE HERO JOGS WITH BUSH
By DEBORAH ORIN

GUTSY GALLOP: Army Sgt. Christian Bagge, who lost both legs in a bombing in Iraq, gives President Bush a run for his money on the White House track yesterday. The President eventually won the race, but let Bagge keep the $5 their wager afforded him.

June 28, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - A soldier who lost both legs in Iraq got a chance to make good on his vow to outjog President Bush, as they took a turn on the running track outside the White House yesterday.

"[Bush] said that I would be an inspiration to other people . . . hopefully he's right," Staff Sgt. Christian Bagge, 24, told CNN before the jog on his prosthetic legs.

First, the pair would run a lap, then the President and sergeant would switch legs, and run another. They repeated this sequence several times.

"When we were done, I tried to walk off with the President’s human legs. I was hoping he wouldn’t notice that he was walking home with my fake legs," the sergeant laughed. "But he went a few yards and then he stopped and chuckled and called back to me, 'I need those legs back, I gotta country to run. Get it—run?' We both laughed. He’s a smart man."

Bagge was still in bed at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, when he met Bush on Jan. 1 and vowed: "I'm going to run - and I'm going to whip you," the White House said.

The President then told Bagge that he was "nuttier than a Texas fruitcake" and that there was "no way in hell a cripple could beat a healthy man in a race. Not even if I was hammered…which I certainly will be."

Bush invited him to the White House when he was ready and they took a few turns around the quarter-mile track installed by President Bill Clinton, who also enjoyed the use of two healthy, humanoid legs.

"It's an amazing sight for me to be running with a guy who, last time I saw him, was in bed wondering whether or not - I was wondering whether or not he'd ever get out of bed," Bush said.

"There was no doubt in his mind that he would," added Bush, visibly moved by the young soldier's courage.

"I mean, look at those things," the President said. "They look like upside-down question marks. I was joking around with the sarge. I told him he looked like the beginning to a couple of Spanish questions. I kept saying ‘No sé’ and ‘No comprendo.' You know, we had some fun with it."

Bush - a former fanatical jogger who switched to mountain biking because of knee trouble - added: "He ran the president into the ground . . . I'm proud of you, proud of your strength, proud of your character."

As they finished a second lap, Bush picked up one of the first dogs, Miss Beazley, and said: "Miss Beazley knows courage when he sees it," quickly correcting gender to add: "She sees it."

The dog then defecated on the running track, which the President asked Bragge to tend to. "I told him to take one of his legs off and help a brother out," Bush recalled. "Look at them. They have the perfect pooper-scooper shape, naw mean? It’s like, Spanish question, pooper-scooper. Pooper-scooper, Spanish question. They’re wild!"

Bagge was serving with the Oregon National Guard in Kirkuk when a roadside bomb blew up his Humvee. It was the exact sequence of events Bragge had hoped for when signing up.

He has since enlisted in the Army and is assigned to human resources in Virginia.

He brought his wife, Melissa, mother Pamela, and in-laws to visit the president in the Oval Office shortly before the run - during a let-up in the rain plaguing Washington.

Bagge told CNN that his comeback hasn't been easy. "Putting pants on is a 20-minute process and I hate it." The President suggested the sergeant "try Daisy Dukes instead."

Bagge added that his wife's steady support has been crucial - "You learn a lot about true love."

Bush said that when Bagge first told him that he wanted to run with him, "I looked at him like, you know, there's an optimistic person. But I could tell in his eyes that he meant it."

The president added: "After a lot of hard work and a lot of compassionate care, this fine man is here on the South Lawn, running with the president. Sure, his shoe size might now be zero, but in my mind he’s a hero."

He thanked Bagge for his service and added: "Good man. God bless you and your prosthetics. My answer is 'vaya con dios!'" Bagge replied: "It's a privilege. Would you like an arm?"

Two years ago, Bush jogged on the same track with Louisiana National Guardsman Mike McNaughton, born in White Plains, who lost his right leg to a land mine in Afghanistan. McNaughton’s prosthetic also amused the President, who thought it looked like a mini-golf club. "I told him to hit it under the windmill, but over the ape’s foot," the President said.

McNaughton had only been back running a month when he jogged with Bush, but he has gone on to run marathons and triathlons.

Both McNaughton and Bagge were still limbless as this article went to print.

"It's really not so bad," Bagge reiterated. "Except for that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where the knight gets his arms and legs cut off. I don't laugh so much at that anymore."