BREAKING NEWS at SPIEGEL ONLINE: Bush's Bathroom Break

There is a new standard for quality and niveau in the German media when it comes to reporting on the United States. Forget explaining the complex workings of American politics, forget trying to present diverse political viewpoints from within the world's only remaining superpower, forget serious discussion of the Bush administration's plans for UN reform. No...none of that really matters right now...put all that on hold...this is far more important...

SPIEGEL ONLINE Reports "When Bush Has to Go": More Professional, Serious, Intellectual Journalism...

What you ask? Well, less than four days before German national elections, SPIEGEL ONLINE is featuring a story on its homepage on a recent bathroom break taken by President George W. Bush. The report, entitled "Security Council: When Bush Has to Go," stems from a photo taken of Bush writing a note in the UN Security Council supposedly asking if it was an appropriate moment to excuse himself for a "bathroom break." SPIEGEL ONLINE writes of the incident:

"It is known that George W. Bush places great value in the opinion of Condoleezza Rice. Sometimes he even asks for her permission when it comes to important decisions - so too it was in the Security Council, when he was overcome by an extremely urgent need."

Profound. Why report on issues like Germany's massive unemployment problem or budget deficit at a time like this? Why discuss the impacts a new German government would have on transatlantic relations on a day like today? No! After all, this sort of potty-pause journalism simply proves (once again) that SPIEGEL ONLINE and its readers are a cut-above publications like BILD and TAZ in terms of professionalism, seriousness and intellect. Why can't we all just be that smart?

Update: Oh, by the way, this is what Bush really wrote on that note:

"Dear editors of SPIEGEL ONLINE:

I know that you will be deeply depressed on Sunday night when the German people vote your bosses out of office. So to make you feel better I will give you exclusive media access to my toilet for the remainder of my term in office.

With old-European greetings,
President George W. Bush"

Comments

[disillusioned_german]

We discussed exactly this topic on the Biased BBC Blog (because the Beeb also found this "story" newsworthy).

The Beeb has actually picked up the Bush toilet note story:

Link

So juvenile! And I bet it's a Photoshop hoax when all is said and done. That handwriting doesn't look at all natural.
Susan | 15.09.05 - 6:14 pm | #

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Well whaddya know? Google quickly produces an authentic GWB handwriting sample:

Link

Which doesn't look much like the "handwriting" on the toilet note. (Notice how the toilet note employs a printed capital "I" while Bush's handwriting sample uses a loopy cursive capital "I").

The MSM: so crazy with Bush Derangement Syndrome they stoop to this level of juvenalia. And they wonder why people turn to blogs for their source of news and comment.
Susan | 15.09.05 - 6:20 pm | #

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In order to understand the above comments you need to compare the "Bush toilet note" to an actual sample of his hand-writing:

BBC picture of Bush's note

Actual sample of his handwriting

I can't see any similarity whatsoever, maybe you can.

[disillusioned_german]

Sorry, I used the same URL twice. The second one is Actual sample of his hand-writing

[grlzjustwant2havefun]

Via LGF:

According to Hershorn, Wilking was one of several photographers covering the United Nations Security Council meeting between about 11 and noon yesterday. He was part of a pool stationed on a balcony that faced Bush’s back; a group of White House photographers was on a balcony facing the president.

Wilking shot about 200 images and sent two memory cards to the press room at the U.N., where Hershorn was working. Hershorn looked at the images on a computer and initially decided not to send any of them.

But a few hours later, he started to wonder about a note that Bush was seen writing in three of the pictures. Out of curiosity, he zoomed in to see if he could read it.

Once he saw what it said, Hershorn decided the note was interesting and worth publishing. The white parts of the picture were overexposed, so a Reuters processor used Photoshop to burn down the note. This is a standard practice for news photos, Hershorn says, and the picture was not manipulated in any other way.

Around 4:30 p.m., Reuters transmitted two versions of the photo, including one that was tightly cropped around the note and Bush’s hand.

[Dan Kauffman]

LOL they had a hard time finding something negative that day if this is all they come up with,

This is like News about the Governor of California. Haven't heard much in the last year or so have we?
Means Arnold is doing pretty good or the banshees would be shrieking from the eaves. ;-)

[joe]

Only goes to show how much more important the bathroom habits of the POTUS are compared to the other issues facing Germany.

This truely speaks volumes about German M$M.

Of course this particular news service has had problems before with pictures.

[joe]

Someone help me here. I thought it was SPIEGEL ONLINE that published a picture of SECSTATE, Barney and POTUS implying that the SECSTATE was not much more than a house servant.

Did I get that wrong?

[joe]

I guess there is another way of looking at this.

The Germans must find it interesting that the POTUS from time to time needs to go to the bathroom. This unlike their own leader who apparently never does. In his case it must just backs up into this brain cavity.

There is a saying in the US for this condition. It would appear there is no such saying in Germany.

This might go along ways in explaining the current conditions in Germany.

Just think if Gerhard would only go to the bathroom more often unemployment might be less than 2% now.

[LC Mamapajamas]

LOL, Dissillusioned German... that article with the handwriting analysis alone would be enough to throw an anti-Bush Brigader into an apoplectic fit! :D

However, the sample you gave is written in longhand, and the sample with the "potty note" is printed. So people have an excuse to claim that the analysis doesn't matter.

Which brings us to... Why, on Earth, is the President's potty habits international news?

Are they THAT short of useful news to report???

[Tom Penn]

I would be shocked to learn that the President of the United States pi**es. I'll bet socialist mobsters don't pi**.

[joe]

Well it is unfortunate the Germans were unable to watch live the speech the POTUS gave tonight to the American people. It made Americans proud. It also sent M$M and our left into a bit of a funk. It was about the future and hope and getting on with getting on. And guess what we as Americans will be getting on with getting on just as we always have.

This was leadership. Too bad the Germans seem unable to produce there own.

I guess this is what going to the bathroom does for you.

Pamela,

Watch the poll numbers. They are just going to make our lefty Vic sick. .. A sick Vic... kind of like flick your Bic.

[Mike H.]

pajama-mama, because 'they' have s**t for brains they are interested in anything that might identify a replacement source.

[Motorhead]

Maybe Spiegal Online will check the WC stall where Bush took a leak and check out the graffiti.

Ridiculous.

But how about that other picture/lead-in to another article, "How Katrina Killed the Bush Presidency"?

There is almost a morbid curiosity to check that article out, but I won't.

[t.daeges]

I was watching NTVs news yesterday evening and they were reporting on the status of New Orleans and several other stories involving the U.S. and I thought... Okay, I'll now watch this looking for the slightest clue of anti-americanism. :-)

There was nothing. Nothing. Everything was perfectly unbiased. Until... at the very end, there came this news about Bush having to go to the toilet! I sat there and thought that I must be imagining things. *shaking head*

Now this could very easily be a photoshop hoax - I could've done this. Weird stuff!

[Foobarista]

In a way, this sort of thing shows Europe's inferiority complex. Americans could care less about silliness like Schroeder's hair obsessions or his need to stand on platforms (both of which I read about on this website). But every aspect of Bush is covered in gory detail at a level that even Hollywood papparazi (sp?) would find obsessive.

Why? Because he matters...

[Motorhead]

@ t.daeges

I was almost shocked to see on the ZDF "heute journal" the other night a clip of the buses standing in the motor pool somewhere in New Orleans and even mention that Bush can't be personally blamed for it.

Amazing how just a small bit of unbiased reporting in the German media gets noticed immediately.

[RuneFromOslo]

I'm about 99% certain this is a false photo. It wouldn't be the first false unflattering photo of Bush. Here is a manipulated photo of Bush holding a book upside down.
Link

[mbl]

Come now people, this is Daily Show stuff that the media could not pass up. Everything I have read has been tongue-in-cheek (except for some humorless bloggers on the right who are working hard to prove that the photo was doctored). Even the Ruppert Murdoch owned Times of London ran something on this. This is not a "liberal" media, anti-Bush conspiracy. It's just people having a laugh (and yes, even Germans can have a laugh sometimes). Frankly, I think the outrage that some are expressing makes this even funnier.

[greatsage]

Hey lighten up!
Its funny! Bush wants a wee wee! its not just a German thing, I just checked across World media - its everywhere! Reuters, Boing Boing, Delicious, Alternet etc etc etc... All English speaking countries, all Europe -even the a brief mention in Chinese media.
It is said (in hushed tones) that even the Queen of England sometimes... well you know!

[Fred H]

I am convinced that photo is a fake, because here in Germany we all know that that cowboy from Texas would not be so discreet and considerate as to write a note. If he needed a bathroom break, he would have stood up in the middle of the meeting and loudly proclaimed: “Hey y’all, ahma gunna mosey on out ‘n take a shit!”

[QuagmiredInTheBRD]

@ mbl and greatsage:
This was really funny too http://www.taz.de/pt/2005/08/16/a0274.nf/text.ges,1:

"Tiefrote Zahlen hatte der Beate-Uhse-Konzern im US-Versandhandelsgeschäft verbuchen müssen - jetzt ziehen sich die Flensburger aus diesem Geschäftsfeld zurück. Offenbar liegt das am politischen Klima in den USA: "Was unter Clinton ging, geht unter Bush noch lange nicht", sagte Vorstandssprecher Otto Christian Lindemann gestern in Hamburg..

It's the subtle and at times subliminal nature of the reports puked up by the MSM which counts. Kinda like Schröder using the word "peace" in every 3rd sentence.

[Toby]

greatsage:

that's true. it was on the american media even before the German MSM picked it up. someone from NY emailed me the picture some 12 hours before it appeared on SPON. but that does not mean it is not malicious glee at this little slip.

[LouMinatti]

No comments about this?

http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2005/09/16/wahlkampf__pervers/wahlkampf__pervers__spd__usa.html

Schroeder's using American flag-draped coffins in order to get reelected.

[LouMinatti]

"She would have sent soldiers," the SPD's ad reads.

Really? Merkel would have sent soldiers? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't heard anything from Merkel indicating that she would send or would have sent soldiers to Iraq.

Why is Schroeder afraid to run on his own record, instead of bashing my country at every turn? It's like Schroeder is afraid to discuss his horrendous performance and uses another group of people as his scapegoat.

[amiexpat]

@Lou..
Germans? Blaming another group of people for their problems?
NOOOOOOOOO... that is without precedent.. never happened BEFORE::
the JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSS
geez you have to stop lobbing me those softballs Lou ;)
Stoiber the candidate at the time ruled out sending soldiers..
However the Germans took over protection of the NATO bases in Germany for the Americans.. which basically allowed those soldiers to be moved elsewhere.
that is rarely mentioned. It was a positive contribution.. George Bush
should be thinking Gerhard loudly for that..
hey Gerd thanks for that support in the war.. you gave us all we asked..and mORE
I am serious, I would love to see that.. funny beyond belief.

Merkel, if she HAD been candidate... well that would have been interesting.
She said something on German TV once..
AUschwitz was not liberated with diplomacy.
I found that very brave for a German politician. Of course she was not running for Chancellor at the time though...
but I give her credit nonetheless..

[Toby]

@Lou

Wow, I thought it could not get any worse. Coffins, dead GIs and the American flag, just to get reelected. Another must for Ray and David. I think I will be away for a while, I feel the urge to vomit.

[PacRim Jim]

Goebbels is smiling.

[Xixi]

Is Merkel taller than Schroeder?

[Seixon]

Would you be surprised to learn that all 3 major Norwegian newspapers ran this story at least on their websites?

It almost never ceases to amaze how petty they can be, just to pull of some or another "Gotcha" on Bush, even if it, appatently, catching him having to go to the bathroom. I mean, only STUPID MORONS do that kind of they, eh? :P

[MediaCritter]

Looking at the note I wonder if the President was answering someone else's comment. There seems to be two different handwriting on the paper.

[Doughnut Boy Andy]

I see the diisgusting poster story has got its own thread now...

.... so back to the bathroom story.

I love it but i have a very childish humour. In fact when i was actually a child i remember finding Bush senior being amazingly funny when he puked all over some Japanese guy. Compared to that this is nothing. I remember him just vomming at the table and laughing and my parents of course knowing the implications of the President being that ill finding the matter very serious. But heh I was about 11 at the time.

The thing about the story as a whole is that if you like Bush then this is a sign of how much of a normal caring everyday close to the people and representative politician he is. If you hate him then its just another sign of his stoopidity.

The depressing part of this story and its press coverage is that the next time the UN is mentioned in a pub conversation then i will have to hear about how funny it was with Bush writing a note to go for a piss.... when I mention Oil for Food scandal, corruption and general incompetence then nobody will know what i am talking about... just these neo-con smears.

I hope Bush had a dump and used a copy of Stern as toilet paper before putting it back in Fischers briefcase. That would be a great story.

[Doughnut Boy Andy]

Wow I just googled the Bush Snr story and it was the Japanese PM!! No wonder my parents were so shocked and worried!

[CroolWurld]

Here's hoping it's Merkel, and that she's not as big a sitzpinkler as Schroeder.

[Douglas]

Of course he didn't write it, look at this:

http://www.belowtopsecret.com/thread170571/pg2#pid1709690

But unfortunately the truth here isn't the good story, so the truth is being ignored.