It's President Bash!

Opponents have joked that US President George Bush is an accident waiting to happen.

Some even suggest he could be in line for a big fall in the American presidential election.

So, perhaps it is no surprise to see a red-faced 'Dubya' emerge grazed and bruised from his latest scrape.

The accident-prone President tumbled from his mountain bike and went head first into the dirt.

He was on the 16th mile of a 17-mile ride when he took a nosedive as the bike slipped on wet ground, said White House spokesman Trent Duffy. 'It's been raining a lot and the top soil is loose. You know the President. He likes to go all out. Suffice it to say he wasn't whistling show tunes.'

Mr Bush's personal physician, Dr Richard Tubb, treated him on the spot for cuts and scratches on his chin, upper lip, nose, right hand and knees.

A military aide and Secret Service agents were also with the President.

'The Secret Service offered to drive him back to the house. He declined and finished his ride,' added Mr Duffy.

Afterwards, Mr Bush was flown by helicopter to a private party to mark his 22-year-old daughter Jenna's graduation from Texas University.

The President, a strict teetotaller and born-again Christian, has long since conquered the boozing that threatened his marriage and career in the 1980s. But Friday's incident echoed one in 2002 when he briefly lost consciousness and fell off a couch, hitting his head, after choking on a pretzel as he watched sport on TV.

Last year, Mr Bush proved makers of the Segway personal transporter wrong by falling from it - despite claims that it was almost impossible to do so.

Stepping off Air Force One at an airport in Las Vegas, the President stumbled as he missed the last step.

And, in September, he dropped his beloved pooch Barney on its head at an airfield in Waco, Texas.