Bush gives press middle finger
President Bush apparently gave the press a middle finger on Thursday ashe was walking away. On Friday, Press Secretary Scott McClellan waspressured to answer questions about it, only to decline comment.
Maybethe press is really getting to him now that Karl Rove, his best friendin the Administration, is under fire for leaking the name of a CIAoperative. Obviously what he did was disrespectful, and it showsabsolutely zero regard for members of the media that work as hard asthey do under tight budgeting to report the truth (regardless ofwhether the truth hurts).
Read this report in the Washington Post ():
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 ofthe president leaving a meeting with congressional Republicans onCapitol Hill earlier in the day and passing by a clutch of reportersshouting questions on the fate of the Central American trade pact. Onthe video, Bush striding away from the camera suddenly thrusts hisright hand into the air and extends a finger -- precisely which one wasunclear. White House officials yesterday said it was his thumb.
Butthere were other interpretations. "I think President Bush is getting alittle fed up with the press," Leno said, and he then showed the videoto much laughter from the studio audience, which seemed to see it thesame way. "What was that all about, huh?" Leno asked. "You see? That'sthe great thing about the second term: Who cares?"
Ifit is true, this would not be the first time Bush has given the pressthe middle finger. The following are two other instances in particular:
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