Leader of the free world
“U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005.”
For those who can’t see it, the note says “I think I may need a bathroom break? Is that possible…”
UPDATE: Editor & Publisher goes to Reuters & verifies the authenticity
“The photographer and editors on this story were looking for other angles in their coverage of this event, something that went beyond the stock pictures of talking heads that these kind of forums usually offer,” explained Reuters’ Stephen Naru. “This picture certainly does that.”
The photo by Denver-based Rick Wilking, taken over a man’s shoulder, shows an official — identified in the caption as President Bush — scribbling in pencil on a small white piece of paper that already contains the words: “I think I MAY NEED A BATHroom break?” It is unclear if Bush is in the process of responding to that message or wrote it himself.
MORE: Reuters Says Bush Photo Not ‘Malicious,’ Reports Wide Interest In it
With confirmation today that an accidental photo of President Bush at the United Nations on Wednesday, writing a note to Secretary of State Condeezza Rice about a bathroom break, was indeed real, newspapers around the U.S. and abroad are now planning to run it widely. But many, it seems, will treat it as something more than a joke.
A source at the Washington Post tells E&P that the paper is considering it for prominent play tomorrow morning, in the context that, at least in some minds, it raises questions about overall perception of the U.S. at the United Nations, right or wrong. Reuters reports extremely strong interest in the photo today.
The fact is, according to Reuters — and this has not been widely reported — President Bush did indeed take a bathroom break after passing the note to Rice.
Leaders tell it like it is. No qualifiers. Whoever *thought* you *might* need a bathroom break? Either you do or you don’t. Patton would have eaten George Bush alive if he’d had the chance.
You’re kidding, right, TomY? I suppopse Clinton (blessed be his name) wouldn’t have asked anybody if he could go to the bathroom… Especially the Ladies’ Room…
Looks like Dear Leader is the inane one. He can order the illegal and unjustified bombing and occupation of a sovereign nation, but he has to ask permission to go potty? No wonder everything the Bushies touch turns to sh-t. Who the hell is in charge?
I’m wondering if that picture is a joke or a fake; I know truth is often stranger than fiction, but this is too rich.
Just when I thought that Oliver had reached the lowest levels of purely inanity …
Hey….when ya gotta go, ya gotta go.
Plenty to beat Bush up on without having to resort to complaints about his personal habits.
I have to think this was meant as a joke. Frankly, it is kind of funny that the President of the United States would write request a “hall pass” from his Sec. of State.
If it’s not meant as a joke, then it just means that he doesn’t want to offend the sensibilities of whoever is at this U.N. meeting. International Diplomacy is funny that way.
No big deal.
Back to the war, Katrina, deficits, and all of the other things that make him a horribly bad President. Today, an MSNBC poll noted that nearly 60% think this country is headed in the wrong direction.
The other 33% or so, are DID’s (Dopes in Denial) like Dugger, Frank and Phile.
JK
How did I get into this?
100% – “nearly 60%” leaves almost 40%, or two out of five, not 33%, which is about 1 out of 3.
Your math is as good as your politics.
You’re right…2 out of 5..I stand corrected. You’re still a dope in denial.
JK
You re right& 2 out of 5..I stand corrected. You re still a dope in denial.
And you’re a fool. Funny how polls matter when they support your point of view.
http://www.anthraxinvestigation.com/writing1.html
Hmmmm…..looks sorta familiar….
All the polls are showing himat his lowest right now, be it 38% or 42%. That’s still a lot of idiots, I’ll grant you that, Frank.
Let’s see: “dope in denial”, “idiot”. Very convincing argument. Now I’m sure right…
My question. Why does GW switch randomly from lower to uppercase?
“I think I may NEED A BATHroom break?”
Funny that he starts a sentence with “I think” that ends in a question mark. Also, qualifies an opinion about his having to go to the bathroom with “may.” This is funny, not surprising, but not much else.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I may NEED A BATHroom break. Right?
It is quite simple. Bush’s bladder was filled with the blood of black Nawlins folk. Faracon said so.
Georgie: “I think I may need a bathroom break? Is that possible& ”
SnarkyCondi: “Depends”
Yep, he’s full of shit… X-)
Let the man Pee. Just let it go. I’m not sure that Rice should be the hall monitor, it seems she should have better things to do than arrange presidential outings though.
I m not sure that Rice should be the hall monitor, it seems she should have better things to do than arrange presidential outings though.
Like shopping for really expensive shoes? Or how about playing tennis games with Monica Seles, or going to see “Spamalot”? Even better, how about doing her f–king job and taking calls from countries that are offering aid for the hurricane/flood victims instead of doing the other three things?
Oh, the inanity…
Anybody want to join the pool to bet on the hour and the day we find out this was Photoshopped?
I give the right -wing bloggers one day. I’m betting on 2:00 PM
The picture was by Reuters, I highly doubt it was photoshopped.
In all seriousness, it could have been for the Secret Service, I would think they would have to “sweep” the bathroom and accompany him.
OT, from another blogger’s rules:
F. If you include more than two links in your comment, Wordpress automatically slides it into the “awaiting moderation” file. Eventually I will notice but probably not quickly.
Another Media Matters exclusive…
In all seriousness, it could have been for the Secret Service, I would think they would have to sweep the bathroom and accompany him.
It could also have been that one cannot just get up and walk out during a meeting of the UN Security Council (I assume it’s a Security Council meeting) – It’s probably protocol.
I dunno.. I’m not that knowledgable on UN rules and procedures. There are plenty of things you could find wrong with the President (lord knows I’m not his biggest fan), but this just seems rather petty.
Pop quiz true believers:
How many world leaders in that room asked their foreign minister for permission to go potty? Is there anything this guy can do that will not cause you to come to his defense?
It’s no joke and it’s no fake. It’s on the Reuters website. It’s legit.
Probably what is making people think this is a fake is since when has the press been this disrespectful to our leader?
Well, up until now, hardly ever. But with his poll numbers sliding dismally, I believe we’ll see a lot more of this.
But if you doubt it, go over to Atrios, and link to his Reuters link. They have a photo gallery and this is among the pics. Also, the caption to the photo by Reuters said the message was to Condi.
But what I think is funny is the puncuation.
He says.
I think I may need a bathroom break, then he uses a question mark. (That should have been a period)
Then he says
Is this possible (period) That should have been a question mark.
Dear God help us.
As some readers have said — he needs a bathroom break, let him (as we all do sometimes). However, what makes this interesting is the way in which he handles this.
I would expect that a President would simply write a note that says “Please arrange a break in the next ___ minutes” (or 1/2 hour, or…)
But this particular note once again shows what we have often suspected — he’s just a frat boy, over his head, out of his element, and needing someone to hold his hand.
“I think I may need a bathroom break?”
spitar1
Maybe I can help. This comes in the context of Bush-the-All-Knowing and All-Powerful, that we Americans have had drummed into our heads non-stop for five years now. We on the Left have always known he was just a child in a big suit, with a wire in his ear feeding him lines.
And no one listened to us. We were told it was unpatriotic to question someone in authority. That the only true way to be American was blind obedience to the designated leader under all circumstances.
And now, this picture sums up everything we’ve been saying all along.
” Is there anything this guy can do that will not cause you to come to his defense?”
Seriously, Big Gay, I think we all know if Bush shat on the carpet his defenders would call it ice cream. Yes, and eat it, too, just to prove their point.
Umm…I’m by no means a Bush supporter…but why is this news and why is it controversial. When you gotta go, you gotta go! I think there are bigger fish to fry in this world than Bush having to take a whiz. It probably wasn’t the most convenient timing but who really cares? I know I don’t.
One other weird thing about the note, someone noted above how he switched from lower case to all uppercase back to lower case again. But what I just noticed is after the first sentence, he switches from printing to cursive. How bizzarre is that. I would love to know what a handwriting expert says about this.
Very odd indeed.
“I think I may need a bathroom break, then he uses a question mark. (That should have been a period)
Then he says
Is this possible (period) That should have been a question mark.
Dear God help us. ”
No, God, help Erica.
Erica, the next time you quickly jot something down on a piece of scrap paper – a note, reminder whatever – please send it to me so I can grade it for proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, paragraph structure, etc., as you have done here.
Do you realize how pathetic your comment is? I already know the answer to this question, but is there no limit to which you moonbats won’t stoop? I originally thought Oliver’s post was meant in humor, but now I’m not sure…
“SadieB Says:
September 15th, 2005 at 10:44 am
spitar1
Maybe I can help. This comes in the context of Bush-the-All-Knowing and All-Powerful, that we Americans have had drummed into our heads non-stop for five years now. We on the Left have always known he was just a child in a big suit, with a wire in his ear feeding him lines.
And no one listened to us. We were told it was unpatriotic to question someone in authority. That the only true way to be American was blind obedience to the designated leader under all circumstances.
And now, this picture sums up everything we ve been saying all along.”
I like your little “we on the left” comment. Just for the record…I am on the left. Yes I know Bush isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and the party he’s with has snowed this country. However…is this really worth going on the attack about. I am much more concerned about what he is going to say tonight in his address and the confirmation of John Roberts and Iraq etc.
Now if you’ll excuse me…I gotta go take a whiz…
Bush’s note reveals how wishywashy the guy is under the myth of ‘resolve’. I think I NEED. . .
Do you suppose Colin Powell quit because Bush wrote him notes like this one during the first term?
there’s nothing wrong with a president having to pee, but why does he have to ask for it? You’re the president! Just get up to go pee! What are they gonna do? Fire you?
[...] is Bush asking to pee? He s the leader of the world, yet, he still has to ask to pee? Double you tee eff? I m at a loss here, folks& umm, ta [...]
Well, spitar I’m not interested in “going on the attack” over this, but I sure did need the laugh. The cognitive dissonance has been killing me.
I guess if he had written, “I’m going to flog the dragon; I gotta piss so bad, my back teeth are floating,” you’d all become Republicans!
Whenever Oliver is talking about our President, believe me, he isn’t kidding… In Oliver’s book (and, apparrently in many of yours) this is just one more charge against him.
My $.02
There are two reasons why I think it’s a fake (and don’t tell me “It’s Reuters, it’s legit” again): The angle at which the picture was taken is so improbable; was the photographer standing by his shoulder?
Secondly, I saw his handwriting this morning, and while the cursive does resemble the autograph I saw this morning on TV, the printing does not look like it was printed by the same hand that wrote the script.
It’s Reuters, it’s legit. They can do some great things with zoom lenses in the 21st century.
buma – you are straying off the reservation. You must remember that Sec. Powell was fired, he did not quit.
The funny thing about this is that you have it right up there with the Supreme Court and Katrina. Trouble sorting things out perhaps? But I do understand, The only reason Katrina is here and Roberts is that they might provide an opportunity to get the hated Bush.
Dugger
Jay,
The only thing foolish about me is that I spent way too much time reading and responding to your donkey dung all these years.
(Just kidding my friend……but a good one-liner, nonetheless.)
And yes, polls do matter when they support my point of view. I’ll cop to that.
I could care less about Bush’s bladder. What disturbs me lately about you guys is that some of you seem to equate success to low body counts, or lower body counts than anticipated.
That worries me more.
JK
What are you saying, JK?
That if anyone dies in a hurricane, it’s because the authorities didn’t do their jobs right?
Or are you saying that if anyone dies in a hurricane, emergency management must go “back to the drawing board”, and re – invent the wheel?
What are you saying?
Well, it seems that Bush actually wrote the note, OK, but
PrivatePyle.
Next time I jot a quick note Gomer, I will be sure to let you check it. And I don’t give a crap what you think of my comment. I think it’s interesting that our President is so erratic in his writing,. Being a reporter, I have interviewed a writing expert who says that the way people write reflects their personalities. I was merely making an observation. So quite frankly, I don’t give a crap what you think of my comment. As far as your comment goes, I think what it reveals about you is your need to control other people’s thoughts and the need to criticize others to counter the fact that you have a very small penis. So screw off and don’t ever address me again moron.
Frank,
What I am saying is that on more than one occasion, I have seen people on the right in here use either one of the following two arguments
1.) The body count in Iraq (American Troops) is low, relative to other wars. By that standard, the war has gone quite well.
2.) The death toll in New Orleans was greatly exaggerated. The implication being that this tragedy, and any blame that might be deflected to Bush and the Feds, is minimized.
While I agree that the early reports of death tolls in NO were, in fact greatly exaggerated, I’m disturbed by these kinds of arguments. If you’re the son, who lost his mother, or the sister who lost her brother, these arguments ring very hollow.
And don’t you dare lecture us about emergency management. Under this MORON in Chief (and I mean that as powerfully as I could possibly mean it), FEMA was placed under DHS, and essentially gutted of resources, valuable, experienced career personnel, and manpower.
If there was on example of a federal agency that was working fairly well before Bush F’d it up…it was FEMA.
You know…it’s a cliche to say conservatives don’t care about the poor. However, there is sometimes truth in cliche, and sometimes more truth than we’d care to admit.
JK
I don’t know about other conservatives, but I have spent 10 years working in mental health, at damn near minimum wage, and am now in graduate school, earning to be a therapist and I am, by government standards, poor.
So I know I care about the poor.
That’s not the issue.
You know as well as I do that the left was just itching for thousands of deaths to hang around the neck of President Bush.
You should know, but don’t want to admit, that, if blame were meted out in percentages to government bodies, it would be something like 80% or 90% Louisiana and New Orleans, and 10% to 20% FEMA. The proof? Mississippi and Alabama.
Thank you for at least clearing up your previous post.
Frank,
Well since the Congressional Research Group has already looked into whether or not Blanco is responsible and found that she did what she was supposed to do and in a timely fashion, I would love to hear from you why you gave her 80 percent of the blame. Do you know something that the Congressional Research Group doesn’t?
And Mississippi was no day at the park Frank.
Didn’t you hear about the school where dozens of elderly were dropped off and then forgot about? Just because Haley Barbour is kissing the Bush administration’s butt, doesn’t mean that everything is going smoothly there. I imagine we’ll hear just as many horror stories coming out of there.
And to only give 10 to 20 percent of the blame to FEMA, whose director knew more about horse flanks than disastors is just patently absurd.
Erica, I didn’t give her 80% of the blame… I gave the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana 80% of the blame. I thought I was pretty clear on that.
I don’t care about the Congressional Research Service’s report (wonder why you couldn’t supply me with a link or a reference — I searched for Louisiana and Katrina, and found nothing). It is known that she waited too long to call in the National Guard, at least one mistake, the Congressional Research Service overlooked.
I feel that FEMA only gets 20% of the blame, because they less than 33% of the responsibility, and they did at leat 2/3 of their job right: 2/3 of 1/3 is 2/9 or about 22% — oops, my bad!
As to Mississippi (”I imagine we ll hear just as many horror stories coming out of there.”), yes, I imagine you’ll imagine.
http://billmon.org/archives/urinal.jpg
Via http://billmon.org/archives/002159.html
I’ll buy the “protocol” argument. If it was Secret Service he was asking, he’d have turned and asked one of the guys standign behind him with the earpiece in his ear and the MAC-10 under his ill-fitting sportcoat. So he was probly asking Dr. Chevron if it would be diplomatically appropriate for him to hit the head during the meeting.
But what the international community will be justifiably outraged by, is that the leading exponent of “freedom and democracy” in the world after 5 years in office does not himself know (and presumably doesn’t care to know) the protocols and rules of how the U.N.– an institution his country founded and whose headquarters is inside its borders– operates. It at least implies he doesn’t go to the meetings often enough to know.
Note to the wingnuts: democracy *is* bureaucracy. It is being polite, adhering to protocol. listening to each other, cooperating, being humble, polite, and caring to meet the other guy or gal on his turf. Freedom and democracy comes at the price of being bored by “debating societies”. All-against-all anarchy is fun and exciting; democracy is a real snoozer.
Really, what is the alternative to a debating society with all of its nitpicky rules and protocols? Why, hmm, let me think. Oh, yes– WAR! War is exciting, and rugged, and macho. Peace and diplomacy is boring and nitpicky and careful, involves lots of politeness and niceties and yes political correctness– trying not to offend anyone. And the UN was formed for what purpose exactly?
Loose-cannon cattle rustlin’ outlaws don’t belong in civilised society. Here’s a case of one not fittin’ in right here.
Sure, can-I-take-a-piss-gate is a tempest in a chamber pot. But it’s similar to the Bush The First not knowing what a supermarket scanner is: it is an example of a certain attitude and world-view.
Frank,
You are just insane. When first responders are cut off at their knees, you can’t give FEMA just 30 percent of the responsibility. It’s up to FEMA and the Federal Government to step in.
You are a Bush apologist. There is no sense in talking to you.
People like you would cover for Bush no matter what he did. You really are one of those people who would follow someone over a cliff. I never understood how corrupt, evil leaders were able to fool so many people into following them until I read all the insane rantings you have written It’s now perfectly clear. They rely on fools such as you and your ilk, who can’t think for themselves.