Odd, isn't it, that so many of the athletes who become friendly with George W. Bush seem to be fond of pharmaceuticals?

Jose Canseco.

Rafael Palmeiro.

And Bush's new friend and bike-riding partner from last week, Lance Armstrong:

A French newspaper says Lance Armstrong used the performance-enhancing drug EPO to help win his first Tour de France in 1999, a report the seven-time Tour winner vehemently denied.

L'Equipe devoted four pages to its allegations, with a Tuesday front-page headline "The Armstrong Lie." The paper said that signs of EPO use showed up in Armstrong's urine six times during the '99 race.

... the Tour de France's director said Tuesday that L'Equipe's report seemed "very complete, very professional, very meticulous" and that it "appears credible."

... L'Equipe ... printed photos of what it said were official doping documents. On one side of the page, it showed what it said were the results of EPO tests from anonymous riders used for lab research. On the other, it showed Armstrong's medical certificates, signed by doctors and riders after doping tests -- and bearing the same identifying number printed on the results....

Oh well -- it must just be one of those odd coincidences....

****

UPDATE: Judging from the comments, I'm the only non-French person who thinks there's even the slightest possibility that the Armstrong allegations are true. I defer to your judgment....

****

2ND UPDATE: The hell with it -- I'm un-retracting this. Judging from the more recent comments, apparently I'm not the only non-French person who thinks this could be legit.