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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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 Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:03 am Post subject: Presidential 'Salute' Demeans Us All |
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I don't know if it WAS the 'bird', but Nick Coleman's INDIGNANT blubbering is a hoot!!!
IMHO, the press does a great job of DEMEANING THEMSELVES!!!
http://www.startribune.com/stories/357/5540054.html
| Quote: | Presidential 'Salute' Demeans Us All
Nick Coleman, Star Tribune
August 3, 2005
I haven't written about President George W. Bush all year, and that suits me fine. I get tired of calling presidents liars, and he doesn't care what some blue-state hack thinks.
So it's a win-win.
Nevertheless, etiquette requires me to write about the president today. He sent a message to me and my colleagues in the media, and it deserves a response.
Don't worry: I will be polite, and I will use more fingers than he did.
Bush, it seems, has given the press the presidential bird, a digital message of the kind you see exchanged between angry drivers at stop signs. At least we know where we stand.
The White House issued a non-denial denial, and the reporters on hand must have been blinded by the lights bouncing off their makeup mirrors because they didn't see it or thought the president had given them a thumbs up.
But when you view the video, as I have, there isn't much doubt: George Bush, who promised to change the tone in Washington and restore dignity to the highest office in the land, deliberately flipped off the press.
That's his right, even if it makes him the only born-again man whose favorite philosopher is Jesus Christ who flips people off like a sailor. But the press -- we whipped dogs and disreputable stand-ins for the American people -- didn't even raise a whimper.
The Finger-in-Chief was flipped last Wednesday, when the president visited Capitol Hill to meet with Republicans. He waved at the cameras, then walked down a hallway, pestered by reporters' questions.
Then, as he faded out of sight, Bush jabbed his middle finger in the air, the way you would give a farewell salute to a jerk disappearing in your rearview mirror.
It was unmistakable. When "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno replayed the video, his audience knew instantly what the president meant (To see the video, visit the Onegoodmove website.
A president showing disdain for the media is nothing new. But doing it with a contemptuous gesture that is offensive to millions does not just insult the press. It insults anyone who relies on the press to tell us what our leaders are doing. When presidents flip off the press, Americans get the finger.
But you can't expect Americans to care if the press doesn't.
The networks and most newspapers ignored Bush's Big Bird, and only a handful of papers printed stories about the incident. Most were light, gossipy and inconclusive, giving the thumb theory more weight than it deserves (try mimicking the video with your own hand; only one finger will do). White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan gave a limp denial: "I'm not going to dignify that with a response," he said the next day. "I mean, I haven't seen the video that you're talking about, but I know the way the president acts."
Yes, we know how he acts. He has flipped the bird before.
"The president knows his way around his middle finger," says John Aravosis, a Washington consultant and liberal blogger (he runs Americablog). Aravosis has helped keep the presidential finger story alive, and the White House took the unusual step of calling him to try to convince him that the videotape features Bush's thumb, not his middle finger. A weirdly elongated and misplaced thumb.
Aravosis doesn't buy it.
"The president thinks his conservative moral beliefs should be shoved down our throats. Then he flips people off. He's a phony. That's the story. I don't know about you, but my priest doesn't run around in public flipping people off."
But forget the finger. The real problem is the attitude of a president who flips the bird to representatives of the public -- however downtrodden, defeated and demoralized we press jackals might be.
Anyone who cares about the role of the press in a free society might worry when a president dismisses the press with an emperor's crude gesture.
But maybe it was only a thumb. I'd like to believe that. Yes, the president gave the press a thumbs up! He really likes us! Just a thumb! The longest thumb we ever have seen.
Right in the eye. |
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“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776)
Last edited by shawa on Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:20 am; edited 1 time in total |
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LewWaters
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Joined: 18 May 2004
Posts: 4042
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:18 am Post subject: |
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I wonder where Coleman's outrage was last year when sKerry was openly flipping off Veterans that did not support him?
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I B Squidly
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Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 879
Location: Cactus Patch
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 1:47 am Post subject: |
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Nick and his ilk think they're 'representitives of the people'. I don't know whether to laugh at that or puke.
| Quote: |
A president showing disdain for the media is nothing new. But doing it with a contemptuous gesture that is offensive to millions does not just insult the press. It insults anyone who relies on the press to tell us what our leaders are doing. When presidents flip off the press, Americans get the finger.
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No, Americans get it and the nattering nabobs of the press deserve it. Nick obviously hasn't read the recent polls and the contempt with which he and his precious press is eyed. Pity the fools that rely on the press for partisan mis-information about about our leaders.
I remember Nelson Rockefeller giving his last press conference as Veep. He used the occasion to flip off the entire press corp smiling all the while. It warmed my heart.
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Navy_Navy_Navy
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Joined: 07 May 2004
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 2:30 am Post subject: |
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Just don't do both at the same time, Squidly! 
I find it hilarious that this journalist pretends to be offended on OUR account!
Oh AS IF morality and common decency and human dignity aren't offended and spat on at every opportunity in our popular culture and media. Please.
The Crucifix in urine and the dung-covered Madonna got as much air time and ink as the Aruba case - the press was all for those "artists" no matter how offensive and immoral it was to many of us.
We were called neanderthals - those of us who DO have a moral code and a sense of what's right and wrong, what lifts human dignity and what besmirches it.
If Bill Clinton had flipped them off, they'd have laughed themselves silly and played it off as Bubba having fun with the press corps.
They ignored it every time he and the co-prez got into a screaming match - complete with very jarring and offensive terms and undignified lamp-throwing.
No one in the press said a word when Hillary screamed at a presidential advisor, "YOU F'ING JEW B'D!!!"
That was majorly offensive to me - not because of the "f-word," - which I use as a word-extender and all-purpose substitute  - but because of the racism and bigotry in the comment!
Our press didn't seem terribly outraged about that. 
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Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
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DLI78
PO3
Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 273
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 4:12 am Post subject: |
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It's about time George started acting like a Republican!
Our press critters could piss off the pope. The last pope. The one people are talking about making a saint.
I spent a long time as a member of the press (editor), my misguided youth as it were, but that was all tourism and economics and computers, not politics. The daily papers wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole since I have a little common sense. I went straight a while ago and haven't looked back. Now I wonder how I spent so many years playing "find the missing comma". No wonder they're all nuts. I know why they all have advanced liver disease.
If that really was the finger, and it looked like it on the Leno clip, then OK, so what? The press richly deserves it.
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DLI 78
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blue9t3
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Joined: 23 Aug 2004
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Location: oregon
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 6:04 am Post subject: |
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 Triple N., Dont be bad-mouthig those neanderthals, have you seen that latest commercial where the cave man ordered the roast duck, with the mango sause?
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GenrXr
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 05 Aug 2004
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Location: Houston
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 6:10 am Post subject: |
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The press deserves more then the finger inho. Great to see this guy making a fool of himself. Even greater is his read on fly-over country.
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"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy |
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PhantomSgt
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Joined: 10 Sep 2004
Posts: 972
Location: GUAM, USA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:16 am Post subject: |
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You know deep down inside "W" would like to drive that pointy toed cowboy boot all up inside their butts. But he is reserved and just gives them the one finger salute.
The girly men from the press corps can't stand the fact that he won't make a comment to them and whine like small girls when they don't get their way. What do these idiots expect some respect? Maybe if they respected the Office of President of these United States they would get some in return.
If I were POTUS for a day I would kick all of them out on their ear, revoke their press passes and give shoot to kill orders to White House Security Forces if their heads popped up over the fence.
They are lucky Dick didn't tell them to go F*** themselves. That would have sent them directly to therapy.
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LewWaters
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:34 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | The girly men from the press corps can't stand the fact that he won't make a comment to them |
Since there's no audio included with the Leno clip, we have no idea what, if anything, was shouted at Bush. It's very likely that this finger salute was justly delivered in response to something more outlandish shouted at him.
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Nutso
PO3
Joined: 25 Aug 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Minnesota
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:21 am Post subject: |
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| Nick Coleman is a has been and is one of the laughing stocks at the Star and sycle here in Minnesota. This paper has gone so far left I can't stand it anymore, and they deserve a lot more than the finger. I cut out everything except the Sunday edition as the wife likes the coupons, but today that goes to. |
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davman
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Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Posts: 205
Location: Massachusetts
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 12:33 pm Post subject: |
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| I don't see how he could possibly assert that it was like flipping the whole country off, the press certainly does not represent me! Actually, if he did flip the bird to the press, he was representing my point of view! |
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becca1223
PO3
Joined: 23 Aug 2004
Posts: 293
Location: Colonial Heights, VA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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I can't believe this loser, Nick Coleman, wrote an entire article on this. That is laughable!
It was definitely a thumb's up by Bush. Plus, the job of giving the finger belongs to Cheney! 
Dick Cheney, POTUS in '08!! |
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shawa
CNO
Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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davman wrote
| Quote: | | I don't see how he could possibly assert that it was like flipping the whole country off, the press certainly does not represent me! Actually, if he did flip the bird to the press, he was representing my point of view! |
Heh, heh. My point of view too!
Personally I doubt that it really was the 'bird' but I like to think that it was!
The President could explain that he felt compelled to represent the view of the 63,000,000 who voted for him.
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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Jerald L. Parsoneault
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Joined: 29 Sep 2004
Posts: 144
Location: Sacramento
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| Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 10:17 pm Post subject: |
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In his article, Nick Coleman of the Minneapolis Star Tribune accused the President of "flipping people off like a sailor." What's up with that? When sailors go ashore after being at sea for a few months, chances are they don't go to an art museum, a library, or a fancy hotel for afternoon tea. But the indication left by Coleman is that sailors are an uncouth lot.
We always used to adhere to the creed, "I may be drunk but by gawd I'll crawl back to the ship like a sailor." What could be more couth than that?
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J. Toy
Seaman Apprentice
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 96
Location: Pa.
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| Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:49 am Post subject: LOOKS LIKE COLEMAN WAS "Rather" DUPED |
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From Powerline: http://www.powerlineblog.com/ (first post Aug. 4th. The real picture is there)
Nick Coleman's moving finger
A footnote to Nick Coleman's Minneapolis Star Tribune column discussed below. Coleman's response to a reader who wrote him was to send him a photo "for his office" of President Bush with his middle finger raised. Classy.
The photo Coleman sent the reader was a fake. It had been photoshopped, as a number of observant readers noted. Reader Eric Brandel found the original photo (click here) and writes: "Coleman's version has just been transposed and then doctored."
UPDATE: Greg Richards writes: "FWIW, it is the doctored photo - the one with Bush giving the bird - that has the correct orientation. Note that he always wears the flag on his left lapel and he combs his hair with the part on the left side."
JOHN adds: I've reoriented the above photo so that it is correct. You can see that it is the source from which Coleman's photoshopped version came. Here is what is interesting to me: Do you think Coleman knows that the photo he sent to a reader was a fake?
Many mainstream journalists really do believe that the internet is an unreliable source of information. It occurs to me that this may be, at least in part, because they are unusually unskillful and unskeptical users of the medium. Here is an analogy: we once pointed out that the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which editorialized in favor of the filibuster when it was being used by Democrats, had bitterly denounced the tactic when it was used in the early 1990s by Republicans. To prove our point, we posted PDF versions of the Strib's 1993 and 1994 anti-filibuster editorials. Deputy Editor Jim Boyd bitterly objected to our statement that his paper had flip-flopped. When we pointed out to him that we had posted the Strib's editorials on our site, he responded that the versions we posted were too small for him to read. He apparently had never heard of "click to enlarge." Likewise, maybe Coleman has never heard of Photoshop.
Of course, it's also true that the lefty sites that people like Coleman probably frequent are, indeed, highly unreliable. In any event, my own guess is that Coleman had no idea that the photo he sent his reader was a fake, and that he thought it lent additional support to his column's erroneous claim that President Bush had given the bird to the White House press corps. I would surmise that he saw the photo on a left-wing hate site and took it at face value. Maybe he'll write to let us know whether that guess is correct.
Posted by Scott at 04:44 AM | Permalink
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