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Check Out Bush Checking Out
The NYT just ran an interview with Reuters head photo editor Jim Bourg who shared the following:
I was planning describe to and you had asked me to choose ten photographs, but to tell you the truth, I was pretty tempted to supplement it with one of the pictures by our photographer Jason Reed from (Bush's January 15th) farewell address. I was paging through the thumbnails with our remote editing program as they came in live from the White House. And it is not often, with all the pictures I've edited, that I stop dead in my tracks and say, "Oh, my God," but I did that last night. Bush finished his address to the nation, went back out through the doors, and the doors closed behind him and the national TV broadcast went off the air. And then after the live TV was off, the doors suddenly reopened, and he came back in to say goodbye to all the guests - his former cabinet members, his current cabinet members, Dick Cheney, his daughters, Laura and lots of other friends and supporters. He popped out that door, and when the door opened and he came through it, the look on his face was like no look I'd ever seen on George Bush's face in my life. I actually flagged three versions as he comes through the door and his expression changes.
And I turned to one of my editors - First I said, "Oh, my God." And he said, "What?" And I said, "You've got to see this picture of Bush. This is really stunning." And I flipped it over to him to process and his first reaction was, "Wow." And I said, "If he wasn't just back there behind that door crying, I don't know what that look on his face is." Because he just looks absolutely devastated as he comes through this door after essentially ending his eight year presidency. And it's just really striking. He just looks absolutely devastated.
U.S. President George W. Bush re-enters the White House East room to say goodbye to staff and friends after his primetime address in Washington, January 15, 2009. Bush on Thursday defended his actions to avert a collapse of the financial system and protect America from another terrorist attack as he mounted a farewell bid to polish his troubled legacy. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)
47 Comments so far
Show AllLookin' good to me...
he looks surprised/relieved to see there isn't a firing squad waiting for him........
Carefull... Don't let that door hit you in the ass on the way out!
Who knows what he was thinking?
I totally hate bush's policies and his war in iraq, abortion, you name it, but im not sure what this picture proves? Maybe we can just feel happy to see that look on his face?
Careful, we have not seen the rest of the sequence of shots (clearly taken with a fast camera). Bush may have been making one of his infamous fart-noises, with the next frame showing him exploding into laughter.
It is very dangerous to surmise an event without seeing all the data.
To borrow a line from curmudgeon99 - I could be wrong!
Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in their moccasins - Native American proverb.
OH BOOOO HOOO HOOOOOOO... WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
He wore out his welcome 7 years ago. If he spent the rest of his life in misery that would be too good for him.
he was probably drunk
Thought him too much a sociopath to feel regret.
Would be nice if he had a Scrooge moment or remainder of his life, though.
Too much to ask that his regret would turn to confession?
______________________________________________
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies. " Groucho Marx
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
H. L. Mencken
Regret? No way,
The chimp has no shame. But I think it's just now hitting shrub that he is the most hated leader in history. Even Dr. StrangeLove in the wheelchair (Chaney) hates him since he wouldn't pardon Scooter Libby on his conviction the last days in office. The worried look on his face above is that with the condeming innageral speech by Obama, this new administration may not prevent future investigations into all the war crimes for personal profit that Rummy, Rice, and the other corporate commies forced on the American people all the while blaming the CIA for faulty intel. I'm sure everybody in the CIA hates him too.
Thank god that there is no honor among theives. I can't wait for some of the insider's books to come out in the next few years... talk about skeletons in the closet!
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Oh, he was probably sad that he won't be seeing all his cronies in corruption anymore. The look could be interpreted as that. I doubt very much the look is "worried," although I'm sure many here would LIKE it to represent that. There is an infinitesimal chance that Obama's administration will do anything to seriously investigate and hold BushCo. accountable for their myriad crimes. Bush knows he is the most unpopular president leaving office ever, and that could also have been a source of sadness, although probably not. Give the corporate media time. As with Reagan (the second worst president ever), his stature could be rehabilitated over time, through wave after wave of propaganda and reinterpretation, until he looks positively heroic in the history books. The man who "kept us safe" for 7 years, etc. etc.
Nice thought, might make us feel a moment of joy, but I don't think so. Those with such severe personality disorders, without a conscience, don't cry. I agree that if he wailed from the core of his being for the rest of time, that would not even come close to justice for what he has done. May he rot in hell.
How about the other six billion people he made cry for the last eight years?
Hmm... well, my interpretation of Bush is that he is simply the product of a long held American tradition. I don't think he is pure evil, just ignorant like the majority of the public. I think he thought he was doing good for America and the world. I am not vindicating his actions, but merely empathizing.
Now with Dick Cheney, there is an asshole if I ever saw one. Damn, that guys smirk, look, and personality is grade A corrupt politician.
He was probably just told he lost some cash in the market. He is a sociopath -- that's the bottom line: everything else about him has to be seen in that light.
I think he was grieving, but certainly not about the Iraq war, the torture, or all the unnecessary deaths. He probably watches films of Abu Ghraib to lift his spirits. No, he is extremely upset because his whole mission in the presidency was to please his "base" on Wall Street. He was going to spend the rest of his life getting firm handshakes and back slaps from all those whose fortunes he helped grow, and sit on corporate boards full of members who appreciated his "service." Now what? He is persona non grata even among the fatcats. That is why he feels like a failure and why he is so full of remorse.
maybe they just informed him that he's likely to face life in prison....
This is not the picture of him holding up a number in front of his chest that we need.
Hey - you'd be crying too if you just realized that you could no longer kill anyone - or hundreds of thousands of anyones - anytime you wanted...
You're so right. I was just gonna say he was crying when he realized he was once more just another dirtbag from Texas (I was married to the other one), and no longer the most powerful man on earth.
Cry baby. Now go home to mamma.
I wonder if Hitler cried...
To me, that look says, "F'n g**d***, it's over."
Nothing more, nothing less. Bush isn't capable of complex thought processes within a few seconds...
That's what I thought, too -- relief it's over.
And no one has caught them yet and put then in jail.
I think they have all the bases covered and they're comfortable
they'll not be prosecuted for anything.
"According to all myth, the female - not the male -- gives life"
I'm sure it occured to him at that moment that, if his reputation were ever rehabilitated by future historians -- an unlikely event, I'll aver -- it'll be far, far into the future and only after everyone with a living memory of his eight years in office has finally reached terminal status.
Great to see these pics.
He just learned that he beat out James Buchanon for "worst president in history"
This is a man who is incapable of crying. When his sister died, his parents refused to allow any mouring or closure to the event. He is the product of a heartless mother and a terribly confused father Surely they saw their son as the trainwreck he really was. It is unforgivable that his parents never took the time to help their truely pathetic son.
I think that for the first time in his life he felt he actually succeeded at something, and that people he respected, respected him. In the eyes of his daddy, he knows he's always been thought of as a fool and a buffoon (Jeb and Marvin were the shining stars). This was his chance to show them, and boy, did he ever!!!
The thing is, to these friggin' sociopaths, he WAS a success. He such a pitiful moron, he thinks HE had something to do with it, though. He was in fact merely the "amiable" public face (yeah, I know....) that allowed them to "redistribute" untold billions (or more probably, Trillions) into their personal accounts and those of their friends. And now, he doesn't get the props day to day that he (thought he) got.
I'll bet he doesn't get even one Xmas card from the bunch....
He looks more frightened than anything....like he knows there's a contract out on him.
sorry about the duplicate posting.
I think he's running scared.
It's always a calculated "show" with this guy. I believe he meant to get caught on film.
This is the look that says, "Cheney and Rove convinced me not to pardon anyone, which would make us look more guilty and the object ov even more scorn. Instead, they convinced me to skip the pardons so that, when we get procecuted for crimes, we can be the object of renewed right-wing sympathy, and claim we were brave, that we believe we did absolutely nothing wrong. They convinced me we had to do this for the sake of the party, even though it sounds pathetic. And I'm scared of prison now, but I went along with it."
What kind of look do you expect from a deposed tyrant who hoped for a legacy of glory but instead got a legacy of . . . shoes? Actually, he looks sick, like he's ready to vomit out a couple of toads.
He'll probably die of a sudden heart attack while leading a Bible-study group in the basement of a little church in Lincoln, Nebraska just one day before a big real estate developer is set to demolish the church and build a big shopping mall for all the parishioners to work at and the minister will suddenly be chosen for a top denominational job at central office.
ok, i dislike bush-the-boy-blunder as much, if not more than anyone, but folks r coming off as a bunch of gloating dumb asses. maybe u should worry more about your boy obama being a sell out corporate tool who is only going 2 make superficial changes to the world bush helped create and that obama is now going to ride. u really think obama is going to willingly limit any of the power usurped by the executive branch over the last 8 yrs? good luck suckers!
For thirty years women have waited for equal pay to be the law in the US, and this morning, this 'corporate tool who is only going to make superficial changes' signed the bill making it law.
I think he's terrified that the AIPAC lobbyist that tossed his salad the night before might still be in the room.
just sayin'...
How would you look if you had to go out and stand in a room full of people, and cameras rolling so that the whole world could see, with no clothes on? That's how this naked emperor looked. Maybe someone should juxtapose a picture of a head of household entering his home to tell the wife and kids he's just lost his job, or yea, maybe the precise moment he gets his pink slip??? Or the kid in school who has to tell his parents that he's been held back in the same grade, or the look on a mother's and father's face when they are told that the big strapping son they raised has been killed in Iraq, or . . .
All farewells are filled with pathos.
"Pathos appeals to the audience's emotions. It is a part of Aristotle's philosophies in rhetoric. Not to be confused with 'bathos' (βάθος) which is an attempt to perform in a serious, dramatic fashion that fails and ends up becoming comedy.
Pathetic events in a plot are also not to be confused with tragic events. In a tragedy, the character brings about his or her own demise, whereas those invoking pathos often occur to innocent characters, invoking unmerited grief."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathos)
Who cares.
Joe
Clearly an alcoholic having what he thinks is a moment to himself, that there is a relieved look from having to pump oneself up for the last round of lies and deceit as POTUS in front of the camera.
Looks like the Overlords just removed Bush's mind-control chip and he realized where he was for the first time in eight years.
I agree, like he just got clued into what he had done. Maybe he is realizing something. I bet there is a secret society somewhere that is just chaffing to get his skull for ceremonial purposes.
Sophie Scholl-The Final Days
Everything with this guy is calculated. I call him the Accidental Antichrist. I think he wanted to look like he just hit the finished line. Just another one of his money shots.
I think Bush realized that he will no longer hold the reigns of power, and he will no longer be able to get whatever he wants (torture, killing people, listening on Americans, espeically those he considers his enemies, signing statements that cleary violate the law, and all the other miscellenous crimes this mook and his cronnies committed).
HR
It's beyond my resevior of tolerance to feel compassion for Bush.
Now or ever.
If he IS crying, I truly don't care.
"Stunning photo"?
How insulting to even think that.
These MSM reporters have lived in the laps of the powerful way too long.
Bush is a flat-out murderer and worse.
For eight years he has made MILLIONS, upon millions suffer and die, he made sure that his cronies enriched themselves while they plundered the planet with impunity, leaving the rest of us in the gutter.
Bush is incapable of feeling regret, sorrow or any other human emotion.
That's what being a sociopath means- being removed from any normal feeling or thought processes.
I cannot feel anything but rage and disgust at what Bush has done.
He (& his entire cabinet) deserves to be behind bars- the sooner, the better.
Amanda
The look??? I agree that he does look frightened out of his mind. But really, what significant, tangible difference does it make? Justice has not yet been served and the fact is his being frightened doesn't guarantee that it will be any time. The only gratification I get from this photo (and perhaps that's what we share as we all respond to this) is that for an instant we can 'imagine' that he is feeling a smidgen of fright, confusion and angst that he has put upon millions of people around the world as they scrambled for cover from bombs, bullets, scavenged for food and shelter, stayed up all night trying to figure out why they lost their job and wonder how they're going to feed their family....and on and on....
....maybe for an instant, just maybe that he is having some small semblance of human vulnerability and humility, but I don't know it may be too much to hope for. We may be putting too much on these photos. I just hope justice for all of us served some day soon.
Is it possible that Great Spirit gave him a milisecond glimpse of all the suffering and destruction he has caused over the past 8 yrs? A little peek at his Karma? Much more than that would probably have killed him. Or then, maybe it was just something he ate. Whatever . . . I sure am glad he's gone.
I have compassion, but I don't feel sorry for the guy. I've known at least one sociopath in my life (other than Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld), and it's beyond them to feel bad about what they've done. I can only imagine that the tears are because he's feeling sorry for himself. I DO, however, have compassion. As the saying goes, "...there but for the Grace of God, go I." MAYBE, a sociopath is born that way, but I think (IMHO) it's early childhood trauma that sets the foot on the path.
Compassion does not, however, dictate that he should not pay for his actions. We all have a choice of what sort of humans we will be; what paths we'll choose. If for no other reason than the honor due to our Constitution, the respect due to our Founding Fathers and Mothers, and to the future of America, our new Justice Department must persue the evils committed during this past administration.