Category: government gaffes

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

Bush a More Big-Picture-Type Thingee

As Think Progress points out, someone has been surfing the internets again:

The president told the assembled guests that “groups like MoveOn-dot-something” have been attending congressional town-hall meetings and “raising cain” about Social Security reform.

Well, this isn't nearly as bad as the time he referred to "Colin Whatshisface" and said we should invade "that tan country."

House first on Social Security, Rove says [The Hill via Think Progress]

READ MORE: White House , george w. bush , government gaffes , social security reform

Unidentified Iraqi Gets Around

Does anyone know if Stephen Glass enlisted recently? CNN points out that two statements released by the U.S. military about bombings in Iraq contained almost identical quotes by "one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified," even though the releases were in response to two separate bombings, over a week apart. About the July 13 attack that killed several children, he was quoted thusly:

"'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all of Iraq,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. 'They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.'"

About Sunday's attack, which was against the Iraqi Security Forces, he said:

"'The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists,' said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified."

Well, sticking to talking points is an important component of "American-style democracy." Actually, if the Army made a mistake here, it's probably in thinking that this unidentified Iraqi was giving them a quote. These bombings are so common these days, what he said wasn't a comment, it was a standard greeting. You know, "Hello, how are you, they are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics and it's not the heat, it's the humidity."

'Enemies of humanity' quote raises Iraq PR questions

READ MORE: foreign affairs , government gaffes , iraq , military , press corps

---