Category: cafta

Daily Briefing: Welcome to Crawford

• Roberts responds to questions from lawmakers with 83 pages of documents, including essay about "modesty and humility"; turns out he met with Gonzales three months before O'Connor's resignation. [WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Two aides close to Rove testified last Friday in the leak investigation; Fitzgerald seems to be "wrapping up the loose ends." [NYT]
• Bush endorses teaching of intelligent design and evolution in public schools: "I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught." [WP, NYT]
• Bush arrives in Crawford for longest presidential vacation in 36 years: "I'll be doing a lot of work. On the other hand, I'll also be kind of making sure my Texas roots run deep." [WP]
• GOP holds congressional seat in Ohio after tight race. [NYT]
• 21 Marines killed in Iraq over the last 3 days; total death toll exceeds 1,800. [CNN]

• Hillary seeks to mold party agenda through influence at the DLC. Strategist: "I think it's going to be very hard for her to get out of the comfort zone of the Clinton administration." [WP]
• Chinese company Cnooc withdraws offer for Unocal. [WP, LAT]
• Evangelical leaders set their sights on political influence and local elections. [USAT]
• Bush signs CAFTA into law. [WT]
• DeLay will participate in a Christian telecast to urge conservatives to support Roberts and transform the courts. [NYT]
• ACT and the Media Fund reduce operations to research. [WP]

READ MORE: Democrats , Republicans , White House , cafta , george w. bush , hillary clinton , intelligent design , iraq , john g. roberts , karl rove , patrick fitzgerald , plame investigation , roundups , senate , supreme court , war on terror

President Bush Shows His True Feelings?

We were suspicious when we began hearing that President Bush flipped off the press yesterday in a visit to the Hill. The only clip available was from "The Tonight Show," and despite Leno's assertion that they hadn't "doctored" the tape, we have trouble trusting anyone with chin implants. Then we saw the original feed. And, whaddya know? About 25 seconds in, Bush's arm pops out of the security scrum like it's on a spring... a spring with the official American sign for "fuck you" on top. Is there such a thing as physical Tourette's?

Other possible reasons the President could be raising his middle finger like that besides wanting to send a very public message to the Washington press corps:

• Armpit and sides of middle finger suddenly sweaty
• Easy way to increase reception for radio device taped to his back
• Was answering the question "where do puppies go after they die?", had paper cut on normal pointing finger.
• Attempt to buck up Republican troops with "We're Number One! We're Number One!" chant, forgot which finger meant "one."
• Gesture actually intended for Senator Leahy.

MSNBC Live [TVEyes]
RELATED: Flippin' the Bird [AOL, no permalink, sorry]

UPDATE: Upon many, many viewings, we think it could be his thumb. His hideous, elongated thumb.

READ MORE: White House , cafta , congress , george w. bush , government gaffes , press corps

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