Bush's Fainting Episode a Target for Late-Night Comedians

LOS ANGELES – President Bush joked Monday about his fainting episode over the weekend, but that didn't stop the late-night comedians from coming after him.

All this time everyone around Bush has been worried about Usama bin Laden, said NBC's Tonight Show host Jay Leno, but "it turns out he was almost done in by Mr. Salty."

The White House said Bush fainted Sunday after a pretzel went down the wrong way.

"They ran to get Dick Cheney, and they realized nobody could remember the undisclosed location he was hiding in," Leno said.

CBS Late Show host David Letterman noted how the "poor guy" was out cold for four seconds.

"Fortunately, it was the same four seconds that Dick Cheney was conscious," Letterman said.

Bush, who was traveling in the Midwest Monday, sent reporters following him a big bag of pretzels with the instructions to "chew slowly." He sported a red scrape on his cheek from the incident.

"It's no laughing matter," Letterman said. "He had a cut on his forehead, his cheek was bruised, and this president is not even married to Hillary."