Wonkette’s Week in Review: The Not-So-Idle-Hands Edition

• Rep. Cynthia McKinney hits a Capitol Police officer with her cell phone. We’ve been all over this one — our coverage is collected here (scroll down).

• Another story we’ve been loving: Fingergate, in which Justice Antonin Scalia was photographed making a debatably obscene — but probably still rude — hand gesture.

• We thought those were Silvio Berlusconi’s hands around that traffic cop’s waist. Alas, we were mistaken. Sorry about that.

• Speaking of dirtiness… Media Matters works hard to keep the mainstream media free of conservative bias, but they can’t keep their men’s room free of filth. And they can’t keep their employees from leaking (haha) internal memos to Wonkette.

• The D.C. Examiner has a similar problem.
  
• Michael Scanlon and Emily Miller: the plot thickens. Check out the money quote from Jack Abramoff: “She tried to blow up me and scanlon, but blew up the entire Capitol instead.”

• Still more on Ben Domenech: the results of Wonkette’s exclusive investigation (featuring real reporting!) into why he left Regnery Publishing.

• Bush visits Mexico. Photographic hilarity ensues.

• Condi generates funny photos too when she travels.

• The Army lifts its ban on tattoos.

• As for hard news last week, Andrew Card announced his resignation as White House Chief of Staff. (It’s taking all of our willpower, but we will refrain from making lame puns on his last name.) More personnel departures may be on the way.

• Meanwhile, in happier news for the Administration, Donald Rumsfeld has managed to locate those weapons of mass destruction. (The missiles in the picture look like long-range ICBMs.)

• Finally, Katherine Harris remains photogenic.

READ MORE: Andy Card, White House, abramoff, andrew card, antonin scalia, ben domenech, bush, cleanliness, condi, condoleezza rice, cynthia mckinney, dc examiner, donald rumsfeld, emails, emily miller, george w. bush, jack abramoff, katherine harris, media matters, memos, michael scanlon, non-obscene gestures, obscene gestures, silvio berlusconi, week in review

Fingergate Fallout: Photog ‘Fired’?

Here in the blogosphere, we’ve been having lots of fun with the silly little story about Justice Antonin Scalia’s colorful, obscene-or-not-obscene hand gesture. That’s fine; that’s what we do. We’re bloggers, and it’s our job to make mountains out of molehills.

But the amount of attention this story is getting from the mainstream media is getting embarrassing. There have been stories in the Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Boston Globe, among many other places. A video clip about the incident is in the top 10 most watched videos at CNN.com.

The Boston Herald, which has been leading the charge, went so far as to interview “Sopranos” stars about the import of the gesture. And now our favorite Beantown tabloid reports that the photographer who snapped the shot, Peter Smith, has been “fired.”

That seems like a bit of a stretch. Smith, who teaches photography at Boston University, did some freelance photography for the Boston Archdiocese’s weekly newspaper. The Archdiocese didn’t want the photo of Justice Scalia to be publicized, presumably to avoid embarrassing the justice, yet Smith went ahead and publicized it. So the Archdiocese decided not to hire him for future gigs; that’s all. They can’t really be blamed for that.

We agree with Philadelphia Will Do: “This is one of those non-scandals that, uhm, reporters just love to keep going.”

But hey — anything that results in a newspaper story whose primary source is named “Joe Bubbles” can’t be all that bad.

Readers Lend a Hand on Gestures, Germs [Chicago Tribune]
South Philly’s Verdict on Scalia [Philadelphia Inquirer]
Scalia Gesture Not Obscene, Court Rep Says [Boston Globe]
“Sopranos” Stars Divded on Bawdy Body Language [Boston Herald]
Church Fires Photog Over Scalia Picture: Freelancer Pays for ‘Right Thing’ [Boston Herald]
How Do You Solve the Problem of Scalia? [Slate]
Meet Joe Bubbles [Philadelphia Will Do]

Earlier: Another Fingergate Update: The Ocular Proof
An Update on Fingergate: Nino Is Still Cool
For the Record: Justice Scalia Is Less Cool Than We Thought
Guess Nino Didn’t Give Up Cursing for Lent

READ MORE: Funny Pictures, SCOTUS, antonin scalia, non-obscene gestures, obscene gestures, peter smith, supreme court, top

Another Fingergate Update: The Ocular Proof

The Boston Herald has the goods: a front-page photo of our gesturing justice, Antonin Scalia:

The picture was taken by freelance photographer (and photojournalism professor) Peter A. Smith, who also spoke with the Herald about the incident:

“It’s inaccurate and deceptive of [Scalia] to say there was no vulgarity in the moment,” said [Smith]. Despite Scalia’s insistence that the Sicilian gesture was not offensive and had been incorrectly characterized by the Herald as obscene, the photographer said the newspaper “got the story right.”

Smith said the jurist “immediately knew he’d made a mistake, and said, ‘You’re not going to print that, are you?’”

Additional details, after the jump.

Smith’s account of the interaction differs somewhat from that of the Herald reporter who covered the story:

Smith was working as a freelance photographer for the Boston archdiocese’s weekly newspaper at a special Mass for lawyers Sunday when a Herald reporter asked the justice how he responds to critics who might question his impartiality as a judge given his public worship.

“The judge paused for a second, then looked directly into my lens and said, ‘To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo,’” punctuating the comment by flicking his right hand out from under his chin, Smith said.

The Italian phrase means “(expletive) you.”

Yesterday, Herald reporter Laurel J. Sweet agreed with Smith’s account, but said she did not hear Scalia utter the obscenity.

Whether or not Justice Scalia dropped the F-bomb in Italian, this is still pretty damn awesome. The federal judiciary is usually a pretty dry subject; but with Justice Scalia around, there’s never a dull moment.

Keep on keeping on, Nino!

Photographer: Herald Got It Right [Boston Herald]

Earlier: An Update on Fingergate: Nino Is Still Cool
For the Record: Justice Scalia Is Less Cool Than We Thought
Guess Nino Didn’t Give Up Cursing for Lent

READ MORE: Funny Pictures, Media, Personalities, SCOTUS, antonin scalia, boston herald, laurel sweet, non-obscene gestures, obscene gestures, peter smith, supreme court, top

An Update on Fingergate: Nino Is Still Cool

As we previously clarified in these pages, Justice Antonin Scalia did not give the finger to a Boston Herald reporter while standing inside a church. So we downgraded him a little on the scale of coolness and bad-ass-itude.

But now it’s time for an upgrade. Nino just a saucy letter to the Boston Herald, clarifying that the Italian gesture he did make — “fanning the fingers of my right hand under my chin” — was not obscene. Here’s the letter:

We love it when the subjects of news coverage mix it up with the media! Here are some choice quotes:

Your reporter, an up-and-coming ‘gotcha’ star named Laurel J. Sweet, asked me (o-so-sweetly) what I said to [my critics].

Catty characterizations of reporters — fantastic! Puns based on their last names — delicious! (Justice Scalia has employed this tactic before, most notably when he derided an article by Supreme Court reporter Tony Mauro as “Mauronic.”)

Scalia’s next move? He strikes a blow against anti-Italian-American bias (a la critics of “Scalito”) — and works in a swipe at HBO:

From watching too many episodes of the Sopranos, your staff seems to have acquired the belief that any Sicilian gesture is obscene - especially when made by an ‘Italian jurist.’ (I am, by the way, an American jurist.)

Ouch. Take that, Laurel!

This is great, great stuff. If you ever want to lash out at the blogosphere, Justice Scalia, you know where to reach us.

Scalia Seeks Justice Over Gesture [Boston Herald]

Earlier: For the Record: Justice Scalia Is Less Cool Than We Thought
Guess Nino Didn’t Give Up Cursing for Lent

READ MORE: Media, Personalities, SCOTUS, antonin scalia, boston herald, non-obscene gestures, obscene gestures, supreme court, top