Bush wipes his feet on the flag!

[Bluesplayer]

Now sit back and close your eyes for just a minute and imagine the outrage of the right if this had been Clinton, Kerry, Gore, Murtha or a host of others. Now, please...have a good laugh! (Thanks Susan43!)








from http://www.unknownnews.org/060911-photo-essay.html

[yurbud]

1. that middle one sums up his presidency...wiping his feet on us

[Patchuli]

2. Where the heck was that?!

Why do they have our flag on the ground????!!! Doesn't W have the sense to NOT walk on it? gggeeeeeeeeshhh

[Blackthorn]

4. It's a freaking doormat

Where else are you going to put it?

Seriously however, the symbolism would not be lost on Dubya. It's subtle message.

[tkmorris]

6. I hear ya but....

What brand of idiot thinks a flag image is a good idea for a doormat? And what other idiot fails to see anything wrong with that and so wipes his feet on it?

Don't answer the second one. :)

[Blackthorn]

12. Not being American I don't hold the same sanctity for any flag as you do.

So putting a picture of the flag on a door mat doesn't bother me in the slightest.

However, I think it's intentional. Dubya knows exactly what he's doing, and it's sending a subtle message to someone, not us, but someone.

[Bluesplayer]

18. It's not sanctity

it's the hypocrisy of the right that wants to push for a flag burning amendment, but thinks it's fine to walk on the flag of sign autographs on it.

[calimary]

20. Let's just apply the Clinton Test to this one. What do you suppose

would be the reaction if Bill and Hillary strode onto a mat like this with the American Flag on it? In a context such as this? What do you suppose the wrong-wing would do or say about this?

Answer: They'd probably be erupting like volcanoes and/or squeezed zits. They'd be booking firing squads and setting execution appointments.

BTW - this is a VERY good way to describe such an event when speaking of it in mixed company (that is - Democrats and bad guys, or liberals and bad guys). "Didja see bush wiping his feet on The Flag????? AND at a - gasp! - 9/11 observance no less!!!!! Gee, I thought he had more reverence for our National Symbol than that..." See what their reaction is...

[Patchuli]

15. You don't put a national symbol of

reverence to Americans on a doormat! I have as much problems with these self-declared patriots who put our flag on their cars to show how 'patriotic' they are and then let it get old and ragged. It's disrespectful. If * had one iota of respect, neither he or Pickles would step on it.

[Blackthorn]

19. Disrespectful to what? The flag?

Now, don't get me wrong, but if flying the flag until it falls apart is unpatriotic well then; why fly it at all? Why not just leave the thing neatly folded in a box in your cupboard where nothing bad can ever happen to it? If the flag means something to you, then why not fly it? Fly it all the damn time.

I don't understand respecting pieces of material as if the material itself is what's important, as opposed to the values that flag represents.

[Patchuli]

21. There are rules to flying the flag

It doesn't fly after dark unless there is a light on it. And common sense dictates that you don't leave it flapping on your vehicle, day, night, rain or shine due to the wear which is disrespectful. If you aren't American, I guess I don't expect you to know that. The flag should NEVER be a rug or mat. When I was a Girl Scout eons ago, I was part of flag ceremonies and there are definite rules.

[Blackthorn]

22. I'm Australian, so the idea is completely idiotic to me.

No offence intended, i just haven't been brought up in an environment where I was brainwashed into believing that "disrespecting" a piece of material was somehow pissing on the values it represented.

I mean, I can understand if there was one flag, like the Magna Carta or the Declaration of Independance, but these things are mass produced. Aren't you offended that there are Chinese slaves making the proudest symbol of your country and getting paid 40 cents a day for the privilege?

[Patchuli]

23. It's the symbol, more than the object

and I guess we're even 'cause I think your 'queen' is a freaking joke and your prime minister is nothing more than a yes man lap dog for Bushco.

[RangerSmith]

28. I know Greg Norman

caused quite a rift in Florida when he admitted he was flying his Australian flag just a little higher than his US flag because of pride. Could be one of those many issues where not everybody is in total agreement about how things are looked at.

[gristy]

3. Give us some context here

What was the event? Was this reported anywhere? Why is your image from imageshack?

[Bluesplayer]

5. here's the link

http://www.unknownnews.org/060911-photo-essay.html

I also added it to the original post. They're at imageshack because I don't know how to link to pics on a web page, if there even is a way...

[gristy]

8. right click on the image, select "copy image location"

then paste in your post. I did that for this one:


On edit: This one in particular looks photoshopped. What's with the distortion (i.e. very sharp angle) on the LLH corner of the mat?

[Bluesplayer]

10. Thanks

I tried your suggestion, but I don't have that option when I right-click. I think I used to be able to do that, but something's wrong with my browser...

[Bluesplayer]

11. the pics also show up here

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?ei=UTF-8&p=bush+laura+carpet&c=&datesort=1&fr=&c=news_photos

[skids]

14. It's lensing.

The photo seems to be a crop from the lower corner of a larger photo taken with a wide angle lense. Note the exaggeration of the foreshortening of the tile lines in the floor.

Hey these guys do it, why shouldn't shrub?



Oh wait, you mean there is symbolism to that? :shrug:

[Irreverend IX]

25. The photog used a wide-angle lens.

Probably 16mm. I don't know why, since the distortion at that length is inappropriate for news photography, but I guess he was desperate to do something interesting.

[LunaSea]

9. The event was Monday,

There were links to a Breslin piece from 2004 floating around here after the photo was posted. all the links now seem to be broken.
But I saved the text-

The Presidents feet are not to touch the dirt.
by Jimmy Breslin,
Newsday

March 11, 2004

For days now, the job at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County has been to follow the order from the White House through the Secret Service and down to the park workers:

"The president's feet are not to touch the dirt."

So all yesterday, large crews drawn from all county parks worked to ensure that, as always in his life, George Bush's feet do not touch the ground when he appears in the big park today.



Jimmy Breslin
Newsday columnist

Bush arrives for a fund-raiser at a restaurant in the park. That is indoors and he doesn't have to worry about his feet there. But he has to go over ground to an administration building where he is to meet with families of 9/11 victims. After that, he has to go over more ground to get to the site of a memorial to the victims.

He doesn't want his feet on the ground and he will be at a groundbreaking ceremony.
Yesterday, a big guy, who had been fixing serious pipe leaks in the county executive's building, was on the walkway unrolling wooden storm fencing that would create an alley for Bush to walk down.

"When you get the fence up, what do you do?" he was asked.

"Cover the ground so his feet don't touch it."

"Is that true?"

"My boss told me that. If he says so, it's true."

"That sounds crazy."

"It sounds like I get paid every week," he said.

The 9/11 memorial is not up. Someday it will be a site by a pond. What happened was that Bush was coming in for this big fund-raiser. The county executive, Suozzi, a Democrat, heard about it and rushed an invitation to Bush to be at the dedication to the memorial and also to meet the 9/11 families.

There was no way for Bush to turn this down. So he appears today for a local Democrat. The county Democrats fell all over themselves to have a memorial site and the paths around it following the Secret Service regulations.

Yesterday, a big guy, who had been fixing serious pipe leaks in the county executive's building, was on the walkway unrolling wooden storm fencing that would create an alley for Bush to walk down.
"When you get the fence up, what do you do?" he was asked.

"Bush was to move to a couple of locations on dirty parkland. Last Thursday, the bureaucrats in charge of the park heard from the Secret Service. The word immediately ran through the halls of local government.

Not a foot touches the earth.

And the workers went to work. First, there was the ground from a parking lot to a wood building used for special activities. This probably will be where Bush meets with the families.
--------------------
EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.

[Patchuli]

24. There is something seriously seriously

wrong with a human who can't stand their feet to touch the earth. Except in Crawford when clearing brush. Weird doesn't even begin to cover it...

[silverweb]

7. I was there in June.

The mural is a gorgeous memorial that includes the names of rescue workers who died on 9/11. My daughter and I spent some time admiring the mural and reading the names on it. The wall the mural is on belongs to a firehouse that is just opposite the hole in the ground where the towers fell.

I can't imagine who could be so incredibly stupid as to put the flag on a mat to be stepped on. Unbelievable!

:crazy:

[NativeTexan]

13. Too bad they didn't get a picture of his usual habit.........

.....of wiping his ASS with the Constitution!!!

[KansDem]

16. Q: Why is Bush wiping his feet on the American flag?

A: Because the Constitution wasn't there.

[Bluesplayer]

17. Good point!

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

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

[OneTwentyoNine]

30. Unlike the Constitution its too big to wipe his ass with it.....

Pretty much sums it up....

[Bluesplayer]

27. I don't understand why

this didn't even get a mention in the MSM. But then again, it didn't get much here, either...

Oh well, I guess we just save it up for the next time they haul out the flag burning amendment

[Anarcho-Socialist]

29. If it had been a Democrat...

...there would have been irate calls for an apology and perhaps resignation etc by Republican Congressman. The news item would run for days on the cable news networks. Eventually Democratic Congressman would join in demanding that the Democratic president apologise. Conservative talk radio would be aflame with talk of such treachery by the president and describe him/her as unfit to govern. FOX News anchors would be appalled by the "unamerican" act and would see it as "aiding our enemies on such a day as 9/11."

But of course it wasn't a Democrat who did it, it was a Republican. So it's different. It's not worthy of mention except on a few liberal blogs.