Was George W. Bush a brawler?

December 22

Say what you want to about our outgoing president, the man can dodge a shoe. Do you know what would happen to me if someone threw a shoe with such accuracy at my head? I’d be hit by a shoe, that’s what.
But not our president. He knows how to duck. I think his ability not to be hit by shoes is the most impressive thing I’ve seen in his presidency.
“The man’s been in a fight,” Blain Howard told me.
Blain celebrated his birthday on Saturday, and I joined him and a couple dozen of his friends for the festivities at Aces & Eights Saloon on the Upper East Side.
It’s a “beer bomb” place, according to the bartender who handed me a pitcher of Bud Light ($12).
Between rounds of beer pong, Blain, who used to do mixed martial arts and is I think the only friend I have who considers physical confrontation as an option for personal conflict resolution, said the first thing he thought when he saw the hurled-shoe video was that our commander-in-chief had mixed it up himself a couple of times.
Makes sense to me.
The wings at Aces & Eights smelled good, but instead of eating them, after I left the party I stopping by a nearby diner and had a gyro sandwich with fries and a Greek salad.