MetaChat - Is this for real?

Since I can't see his mug, the view from which the shot would've needed to be executed, and because the text of the note is so redonkulous, I have my doubts. And yet, it's Reuters, and why should I not expect such goofball stuff to happen with this guy? He's proven his capacity for eye rolling behavior many times before. Not to mention, like gawker already has, everybody poops.

posted by safetyfork 15 September | 10:06

I think Bush may be a bad President.

posted by mcgraw 15 September | 10:14

This guy really puts the pee in POTUS.

posted by papercake 15 September | 10:27

it's real, and he raised his hand and got permission from Kofi (after Condi told him to, of course)

posted by amberglow 15 September | 10:30

Ha -- was just going to risk an entry from work to post this. The photographer must be delighted that he got this in. Not a Bush fan, I'm guessing.

posted by dreamsign 15 September | 10:33

I wonder if this was taken with a camera phone, or if they routinely let photogs stand behind the president. Doesn't seem like a really smart thing to do...

posted by iconomy 15 September | 10:48

So what do people expect him to do, use Depends?

Michael Moore has to pee. Bill Clinton has to pee. Jesse Jackson has to pee. The POPE has to pee.

And I don't know about you, but I can't think with a full bladder.

posted by bunnyfire 15 September | 11:57

Although I'm not a Bush fan (not that that really matters) I'm with bunnyfire. Sometimes you just gotta go. Being in a public situation like that must suck big time for biological needs.

posted by deborah 15 September | 12:01

Michael Moore has to pee. Bill Clinton has to pee. Jesse Jackson has to pee. The POPE has to pee.

All at once? That must be one awkward scene outside the mens room.

posted by jonmc 15 September | 12:24

What are those guys at daily kos? Like, 12? Lameness.

posted by taz 15 September | 12:29

See also.

posted by Specklet 15 September | 12:34

Come on. Most adults can hold it or learn to pee before they enter meetings. How many lecturers stop in the middle of class and run out of with their legs together?

The part that really amazes me is that as the leader of the greatest super power he lacks the ability to declare "I am going to the bathroom" and instead has to ask permission. Really, if you are going to ignore the U.N. when it comes to all out war why listen to protocol when you need to preemptively strike the W.C.?

Hell, given his attitude he should have just dropped the drawers and done the deed right there on the desk. Then the press could laud it as a stunningly innovative proposal for reform of the U.N. that came direct from the president while the left could say it wasn't really bush's shit but instead was Cheney's and that it was packed in there by Rice.

BTW the Official U.N. Presidential Hallway/Bathroom Pass is now up for auction on ebay.

posted by srboisvert 15 September | 12:39

Hey, would you know whether it was OK to ask for a bathroom break in the middle of a UN meeting? If there's a place full of rules and procedures, the UN is it. They probably have a rule about how many people can go to the bathroom at once there.

posted by me3dia 15 September | 12:39

Four or more is wilding?

posted by Hugh Janus 15 September | 13:01

Also, see also and also.

Bwaaa haa haaaaa! What are those monkeys doing over there?!

posted by Specklet 15 September | 13:09

The most important thing to look at the random capitalization and punctuation.

"I think I
MAY NEED
A BATHroom
break?
IS this POSSIBLE
[?]"

For fuck sake, my 12 year old sister knows not to do that, but apparently not the fucking President.

posted by puke & cry 15 September | 13:19

Puke and cry, have you ever had to pee so bad your teeth itched?

I doubt I would care about punctuation and such in such a circumstance.

posted by bunnyfire 15 September | 13:31

First quadruple post on MeFi. I think.

posted by Specklet 15 September | 14:13

It's the question mark that gets me.

posted by urbanwhaleshark 15 September | 14:17

Truman would have pissed his pants without blinking.

Hell, he would have shit his pants and sat there grinning.

"I don't smell anything. You got a better sniffer than the President of the You-nited States? Didn't think so. Now sit down before I piss on you."

posted by Hugh Janus 15 September | 14:21

Specklet: The Harry Potter vibrating broom has to have had at least four.

posted by mendel 15 September | 14:23

Pssst srboisvert:
I am diabetic so I have to pee a lot. I'm also on metformin due to being diabetic. A well known side effect of metformin is diarrhea (aka: the drizzling shits). It's a rare moment that I can skip the restroom in a two hour period. Believe me you, it ain't fun. Now, I know not everyone is diabetic or has other ..er.. bathroom difficulties. But hey, we all have to pee sometime.

But yeah, the way the note is worded is odd to say the least. Someone at MeFi has brought forth the idea that Bush is answering someone else's note on same piece of paper. Looking at the different handwriting, that's as likely as anything up to and including it being Photoshopped.

posted by deborah 15 September | 15:32

There something both refreshing and ironic about this whole thing.

I mean, it's nice that the president isn't so full of himself that he thinks he can disrupt a UN meeting willy-nilly. I mean, it shows that he actually does have some respect for other world leaders, contrary to what we've been shown.

On the other hand, WTF??

The guy will raise his hand to ask for permission to take a pee break during a UN meeting, but when they tell him not to go around bombing and invading foreign countries for spurious reasons he decides they have no authority???

posted by mudpuppie 15 September | 16:04

yup--this broom...it vibrates??? had at least 7 i think.

posted by amberglow 15 September | 17:33

The UN is one of the only places on Earth where the Bush team can't set up shots and cameras in advance, and ensure stuff like this isn't seen.

posted by amberglow 15 September | 17:34

Please mark September 14, 2005 as the last time the press is ever allowed to shoot over the shoulder of the President. (altho they can't enforce that at the UN)

posted by amberglow 15 September | 17:42

I detest the man, but I just don't find much meaning in this. To me hugely more signigicant is the fact that the "respected" press is running it. It implies to me that they have sensed a weather change.

I will be greatly more pleased, though, if they begin running other much more serious stories that they haven't been willing to touch for the last few years. I wonder if they remember how?

posted by taz 16 September | 02:48

yeah, amen to that taz and best of luckto the reporters who might get a serious story green-flagged today - go nuts! Do some actual reporting! Dig!

The part that really amazes me is that as the leader of the greatest super power he lacks the ability to declare "I am going to the bathroom" and instead has to ask permission. Really, if you are going to ignore the U.N. when it comes to all out war why listen to protocol when you need to preemptively strike the W.C.?

That made me laugh out loud!

posted by dabitch 16 September | 07:38

15 September 2005