WP: Trying to Put a Finger on a Presidential Gesture

Trying to Put a Finger on a Presidential Gesture
By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 29, 2005; Page A06

Did President Bush show what he really thinks of the media with a flip of his middle finger? Jay Leno thinks so.

On "The Tonight Show" Wednesday, the late-night comic showed videotape of the president leaving a meeting with congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill earlier in the day and passing by a clutch of reporters shouting questions on the fate of the Central American trade pact. On the video, Bush striding away from the camera suddenly thrusts his right hand into the air and extends a finger -- precisely which one was unclear. White House officials yesterday said it was his thumb.

But there were other interpretations. "I think President Bush is getting a little fed up with the press," Leno said, and he then showed the video to much laughter from the studio audience, which seemed to see it the same way. "What was that all about, huh?" Leno asked. "You see? That's the great thing about the second term: Who cares?"

Certainly Bush does not always have charitable thoughts about journalists, and the video clip quickly made its way onto various Web sites. It was played around Washington yesterday as the curious tried to discern for themselves which presidential digit was raised. The speculation recalled last year's still-unresolved controversy over a hump that seemed to be under Bush's suit coat at one of the campaign debates....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072801906.html

:rofl:

Fuckin' hilarious!

Preferably one with finger extended? I'd love to see this for myself, but my computer will not let me view it!

but I can't post a still :(

http://homepage.mac.com/onegoodmove/movies/bushflips.mov

including one (the third one) that shows his wrist and thumb rotating down as he moves his arm to his side. These three shots in order convinced me he was giving thumbs up.







Edited to add: These three frames were taken from that video link UpInArms refers to, with no enhancement or alteration.

And it better be a thumb!

Did his mama ever teach him not to hold up less than 5 fingers while in a crowd?

If it's not the middle finger it's most likely the index, IMO. But he put it up so fast and took it down so fast my guess is it's middle.
We're number one vs eff off are different motions, not just different fingers.

try to forget WHO it is, and that he is fuking us daily.... an objective look will yield a thumb. look at the wrist, its so thin... why is that thumb supporters quote these facts and middle finger people quote the fact that bush would do this.. I know he would, but facts are facts, and his wrist is turned so the thinner profile of his wrist faces us.... hold your own hand infront of you.. back of your hand facing you... rotate your thumb towards your face and notice your wrist, how it thins as the radius and ulna line up. Please, speculation doesnt help us.. like people that deny WTC7 problems dont look at the video... objective review of evidence is required!

You can count the knuckles, in fact: one, finger, two, three. Who's got knuckles on either side of their thumb?

digit. I have not yet seen an image from this that is that close up and that clear.

get over it.

is rarely given with such vehemence. I'd bet ya a buck it IS the middle finger.

He's looking right at it!

Honestly, this reminds me of those experiments in college, where the guy runs in and steals someone's textbook. "It was a bald guy!" "He had a hat!" "He was wearing overalls!"

thumbs up.

To me it looks like his index finger ("I'm Number One!!!")

Dunno, but I think it's very hard to extend one's "hostile" finger straight up in the air, while all one's other fingers are closed. Try it.

If he really did flip the bird, I wouldn't be at all surprised - he's done it before - the stupid f¥¥¥ker.

will kiss his ass.

Also, this won't hurt Bush with the American public--they hate the media even more than politicians.

lol, I cannot believe this is still around. HILARIOUS.

Were you kidding or am I missing something.

I've only seen a still picture but that bird has wings.

If you watch the whole video, the "finger" drops to the side, in a way only the thumb could do. It's a thumbs up. I got BLASTED for saying that though yesterday. People really want it to be a finger.

I've never seen so many people who WANTED to get flipped off. LOL

It's a thumb. The width of the wrist and the shots of him lowering his hand will show you that.

But hey if you want to believe it's his middle finger, knock yourself out.

... "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", knock yourself out also. If that's a thumb, it is on steroids or has been on the rack.

You remind me of the WMD theory supporters who asked Ambassador Wilson, "Are you going to believe us or your lying eyes."

The pictures are very clear to my non-lying eyes and to all other DUers but a handful of you contrarians. And Bush's salute to the media was also clear enough for the media who were present at the display of the "flying fickle finger of fate" that some of them quizzed Chummy McSharkbait today about it at the White House press non-briefing. Check that thread, s'il vous plait.

It's not like Bush hasn't done this, and on camera, before. Once a spoiled, drunken frat boy --
always a spoiled, drunken frat boy.

UH-HUH.

Don't know me, do you? Hello, I'm Bouncy Ball. Very few people hate bush more than I do. It's not possible to have less respect for him than I do. Just not possible.

So like I said, knock yourself out with that. I don't allow my hatred of a person to blur up my vision so badly that I can't see a fucking NARROW wrist that says we're looking at the wrist from the side and not the front. Which means THUMB. Go look at some basic anatomy texts if you're having trouble with this concept.

He's a motherfucker. The fact that he raised his fucking THUMB doesn't change that ONE bit. Over 100,000 Iraqis and close to 2000 American troops are DEAD because of that motherfucking asshole. I don't need a fucking middle finger to show me that. I can still use my eyes and see this is a thumb.

I think it's great the media seems to think it's a flip off. Wonderful. Maybe they'll finally go after the treasonous bastard.

But I think I'll stay in touch with facts, thanks.

Why are you so obsessed about wanting all the rest of us (and we're quite the crowd) to believe it's a thumb? The more I look at the picture, the more it looks like Bush's watch wristband is obscuring his wrist somewhat.

But hey, if your digital obsession gets you through the night, go for it. As for me, it's time for bed.

Where the hell do you see a watch wristband? Are you looking at his shirt cuff? :rofl:

You keep mentioning that there's quite a crowd that believes this. Of COURSE most of DU wants to believe it's his middle finger. Hell, I wish it was. But that doesn't mean that ALL of us have our vision obscured so much we can't see simple things like the width of his wrist or his hand as it is descending and he's CLEARLY sticking out his thumb.

Stop with the "you are more obsessed than me" thing. Every time you answer one of my posts, you make a liar out of yourself on that one.

As for WANTING the rest of you to believe it's a thumb, read my original post on this thread. I said if anyone here wants to believe it's a middle finger, knock yourselves out. I even said I'm glad the media is acting like it's his middle finger. Good.

But I have every right to also point out how hard it is for that to be his middle finger.

Just because he stuck up his thumb doesn't make him a motherfucker, you know?

put another way--I give your post a thumb's up.

doesn't make Chimpy any less a douchebag.

He's still a bastard-ass, warmongering, fearmongering, murderous, lying, thieving, treasonous motherfucking son of a bitch.

But it's his thumb.

Please write plainly: The transmitter that he used to cheat in the debates with was under his suit jacket...

not just one of them, as this article states.

but did so only after the election. Heavens, we wouldn't want real news that our President is a moron incapable of answering questions from the debate panel without a remote prompter (smelling of turd blossoms) to help -- it might actually have affected the election.

The New York Times -- All the News That Fits ... Their Puppet-Masters' Preconceived Notions of Reality

and has a thumb the size of an oranguatan's or his wrist bones are made differently than everyone else's that allows him to turn his hand and put his thumb in the air without his wrists being perpendicular to the "x" plane. IF it was a pen, then the pen would have been jutting out of the left side of his fist. Was he holding the tip of the pen between the knuckes of his index and bird fingers with the balance of it perpendicualar to the "x" plane?

Look at where his wrist bones are. You can plainly see the knuckles of his index, ring and pinky fingers pointing directly at the cameras.

He flew the bird and he has no excuse for engaging in that behavior. Jimmy Carter hated the press, but he was grown enough to keep immature and childish gestures out of the esteem of the presidency.

After looking very carefully at the video, frame by frame, I say it's his index finger, like he's signalling to the maitre d' that he wants the cheque. Why he'd make that gesture while walking down a hallway is now the true mystery.

enhancements of the stills, I am convinced the Shrub INTENDED to flip the bird, but forgot which finger it was.

there is plenty of room for Bushit to get off.

But if that was a thumb, "Even Cowgirls Sing the Blues"

I liked it though. Nice reference. Clever.

What a great headline that would be...!

Unfortunately, it won't, because, well, it's just a thumb!

If you keep your knuckles level, no way can you get your thumb that long. Try it yourself. Not possible.

Birdie, birdie, birdie.

That's what he thinks of all of us, kids. We're just in his way.

First of all, that's the worst resolution picture of this I have seen.

Secondly look at his WRIST. WHEN did his wrists get to be just an inch across??? IF that's his middle finger then we have to be looking at the wrist full-on. And no grown adult's wrist is that tiny. I have REALLY small wrists and if you look at them full on, they are easily three to three and a half inches wide. The wrist in that picture looks like it's an inch wide. No way. That's a wrist from the side. Which means that's a thumb.

Look at the stills when he's lowering his hand, too. That shows it even more clearly.

Well, if it's the limp wrist of a older but still immature male cheerleader who's never done a day of honest work in his life, he could have the smallest wrists in the world.

Or the longest thumb -- you've made your choice and the vast majority of the rest of us (including members of the press WHO WERE THERE) have made ours. Why don't all of us go back to focusing on something important and let Duh-bya go back to putting his thumb (or middle finger) up Rove's ass.

"Squeal! Squeal I say! Squeal like a pig!!"

So have fun.

Whatever. :eyes:

... meet kettle.

Nighty night.

:rofl:

Like I said, you have fun with that.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Kind of like some other people I've heard of.....hmmm.......

Sorry to read that you are taking this thumb thing so personally. Maybe you can get out, do some work on that farm and get a bit of that anger out of your system.

Don't hate me because I read and type quickly. It comes naturally.

:D

another DUer. Who, by the way, does her own work in politics, just like you.

Saying I have a bouncy head? What, only the true liberals post in Election Results 2004 or something?

Give me a break. This holier-than-thou attitude gets old really fast. I already said if you insist on believing that's a middle finger, knock yourself out, but I certainly have every right to put forth the reasons I say it's a thumb without being insulted by some liberaler-than-thou post counter (heh, you had to bust out a calculator for that averaging! LOL!) with a chip on his or her shoulder the size of Rhode Island. Or would that be the Orange state?

It's his thumb. How can anyone look at the width of his wrist and decide that he has the narrowest wrists in humanity? (We're not looking at his wrist from the front, but from the side, which means that's his thumb, not his middle finger.) How can anyone look at those stills of when he is lowering his hand and think that is anything but his thumb? Real neat trick how he got his middle finger to the left of his thumb, isn't it? And there's only a tiny little split second between those stills. No way that was his middle finger.

God knows I hate that motherfucker. God knows his attitude towards others IS a great big fuck you very much. Absolutely true. He''s just arrogant enough to do something like that, too. I've seen pictures of him ACTUALLY flipping the bird.

But in this case, that's a THUMB. Hey if the media wants to believe he flipped them off, I say great. Let 'em believe it. Maybe they'll get mad enough to actually grow some balls.

I can't deny what my eyes see, though. I love that he's getting flak for it and if anyone here chooses to believe it's his middle finger, knock yourselves out. But seriously. It's his thumb. The wrist gives it away.

On a big screen TV ... it's clearly his thumb.

I saved the picture and zoomed in on it and compared my own hand at different angles to the picture on the screen, and it is definitely a thumb.

I really would like to believe the worst of him, and I do, but in this instance I have to admit he's not flipping the bird.

It's so obvious that he's flipping the bird.

of the fact that as he's lowering his hand (look at it frame by frame and it's super obvious) he has his THUMB out?

Account for those two things with airtight explanations and I'll believe it's his middle finger. Until then, in order to go with your theory I have to believe his wrist is only one inch across and he somehow shifted his middle finger to the thumb position as he lowered his hand.

He can't even speak English and you think he can do such feats?

The shape of the hand is like the back of the hand. The digit is straight up. The knuckles on the hand are facing up. It is not a thumb.

I screen grabbed the first frame where the mystery digit is visible. Then I increased the resolution to 150 dpi and used the unsharp mask in photoshop to bring out some detail. For what its worth here it is.


P.S. I realize this doesn't solve anything, I'm just lazing around on a Saturday morning before work. BTW, I'm firmly in the middle finger camp.

It's the same shape. It's what happens when you externally rotate your arm.

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/bush-flips-press.mov

:spank:

Bush carries it everywhere, when he can't be back at the ranch with his prize stallion.

How did I ever get along with Five!