To: jlallen who wrote (41471 ) 8/24/2005 4:18:17 PM From: tejek Respond to of 93284 What is wrong with these people? Can't they let the poor guy have is vacation? Don't they know that presidents work hard and need a vacation to recharge their batteries? Oh wait, this is Bush. Never mind. BTW, little one, you just cursed. You know its not nice for the young'uns to use such bad language. I think you should apologize to the nice Mr. Parsons. Just because your president keeps getting harassed on his vacation doesn't give you the right to open up your fat trap. And you know for a little guy, you sure do a lot of yapping........kind of like the chihuahua. ;~) ***********************************************************Bush dogged on vacation by critics By Richard Benedetto, USA TODAY BOISE — When is a presidential vacation not a vacation? When the country is at war and some members of the public are expressing vividly their disenchantment with it.Try as he might to get away during the almost five weeks he's scheduled to be out of the White House, mostly at his ranch near Crawford, Texas, President Bush has had his August vacation shadowed by anti-war demonstrators. They have set up camp in Crawford. They have followed him to Idaho where he spent some time Tuesday riding his bike over Rocky Mountain trails north of the Idaho capital. Not only are they attacking Bush's Iraq policy, they are protesting that his holiday is inappropriate at a time of war. Monty Mericles, 55, a Boise electrical engineer who attended an anti-war rally here Tuesday, said Bush's insistence on vacationing is "typical of his attitude about everything — blasé and unempathetic toward those who disagree with him." Bush is not unmindful of the criticism. But he says he needs some time off from the job. "I think the people want the president to be in a position to make good, crisp decisions and to stay healthy," Bush said during an Aug. 13 bike ride with journalists at his ranch. "And part of my being is to be outside exercising. So I'm mindful of what goes on around me. On the other hand, I'm also mindful that I've got a life to live, and will do so." His vacation is not all biking and book reading. Bush has been having regular security briefings with intelligence officials. He has been visited by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He has jetted to New Mexico to sign an energy bill and to Utah to address a convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Today, Bush planned to give a speech to an audience composed mostly of families of National Guard members in Iraq. Later he is to meet privately in Nampa, Idaho, with families of U.S. troops killed in Iraq.Anti-war protesters will not be far away. At his speech Monday, hundreds of anti-war demonstrators rallied three blocks away. In Boise on Tuesday, they protested in a park across the street from the state Capitol. "It is not sitting well with the public. They are seeing the president on vacation when the rising number of American deaths is bringing the war all too close to home," says Jaime Regalado, a political scientist at California State University, Los Angeles. continued............usatoday.com