On January 14, 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush said that he had
choked on a pretzel while watching football television the day before.
The disclosure came at a press conference where Bush was seen with a
broken blood vessel welt on his cheek. Descriptions of the incident
vary. Reuters reported that he and fell off a couch as he came into
difficulty swallowing the pretzel and noted that president's
physician, Air Force Colonel Richard Tubb, said a cold may have been a
contributing factor.
The incident was parodied by comedians and mocked as a sign of
bumbling by an "everyman" type president. Rumors suggested a self-
administered Heimlich "saved George W. Bush from death by pretzel".
Bush had reportedly been alone with his dogs watching an NFL Miami vs.
Baltimore play-off game on television, when he choked on the pretzel,
fell to the ground, injured himself slightly, and became unconscious
briefly before awakening to see his dogs Barney and Spot standing over
him. Laura Bush was reportedly in the adjoining room at the time.
His physical injuries consisted of a sc. and bruise across his
cheek and lower lip, injured by his glasses when he fell from the
couch. He was attended by a physician following the incident. United
States Air Force physician Dr. Richard Tubb, who performed the follow-
up examination, theorized that the food morsel may have stimulated a
nerve, upon becoming lodged in the President's throat. The incident
did not affect the President's scheduled flight the following day, and
as a joke he had a bag of pretzels sent back to the media pool aboard
Air Force One with a note scrawled on the bag, "Chew slowly", once the
plane was en route.
The following day, Bush twice addressed press reporters joking that he
should have listened to his mother and "chewed before he swallowed."
For my PoD, let=92s suppose that the pretzel jammed in a little tighter,
or in a panic, Bush aspirated some of the crumbs into his lungs. At
any rate, he doesn=92t wake up to see the dogs standing over him, but
rather finds himself floating near the ceiling staring down at the
dogs and his own body. Good-bye George.
So here=92s my premise, 9/11 has obviously happened by this point, but W
still has three years left to serve out of his first term. So now we
have President Dick Cheney of the serious heart ailment.
Whither America=92s foreign policy? How is/are the war(s) carried out?
Will he get the same carte blanch that Bush did?
Whither America=92s domestic policies - especially the Halliburton
contracts and the tax cuts?
Whither President Cheney=92s own health issues? I=92m thinking that he=92d
definitely be a one term president, if he survived at all.
Who would run in 2004? Jeb Bush? John McCain? Someone else?
I sincerely hope I=92m not breaking any Ban on Politics, but this IS
almost ten years ago now, so let=92s go for it. |
