We are supposed to be the reality based community, so I decided to take a closer look at this video. I downloaded it, blew it up, and watched it frame by frame, over and over again, and I can say I am 90% sure Bush was giving a thumbs up, not flipping the bird.
The resolution and frame rate of the video makes it difficult to be 100%, but I took a couple of screenshots of frames I think make it clear it is his thumb.
See across the bump for the images.
This is the best frame for showing it is not his finger, but admittedly it isn’t that clear. Note how thin his wrist is. This indicates we are seeing the side of his wrist, with his palm facing left. That would be impossible if this was his middle finger. His fingers are curled around, and you can see his knuckles on the left of his thumb, making it appear that his thumb is in the middle of his hand. The perspective in some of the frames is such that is thumb appears longer than it really is. Try this yourself: Palm facing left, thumb up fingers curled in. Now raise it above eye level in front of you, keeping it in the same position with thumb up and palm facing left. Your thumb is in the middle and looks extra-long, doesn’t it?
This is a sequence of Bush lowering his hand:
These frames show his hand rotating, so in the last image the finger/thumb is pointing left and is on the edge of his hand. This would be a very awkward maneuver if it was really his middle finger, but very natural if it is his thumb. The fact he is rotating his hand is more clear if you watch the video very slowly.
According to one report, a reporter asked him (in Spanish) as he went by how the arm-twisting of GOP congressmen on CAFTA was going. He responded with a thumbs up.
Good for you! But I liked the other story better :):)
Thanks. I’m getting shredded at dKos for this, though several video professionals/photographers have agreed with me. Amazing how hostile things have gotten over there.
it looks like you’ve probably got it right.
that finger does look like it’s in the middle of the hand but looking at the video does look like he used his thumb. Randi Rhodes has another time that Bush gave the finger here:
It does look like it’s in the middle of his hand because his forearm is rotated. Look at how skinny his wrist is in the first shot.
Now try this:
Now, your thumb will be in the middle, and when viewed from an angle slightly below the hand, the thumb looks longer than it really is.
gods, why. it’s obvious it’s his thumb.
ah well — too bad they’re trashing ya. we still love you and your crazed secular humanist “hoohah” here.
(I say that as someone who is 100% secular humanist — I was quite surprised to learn that my intended, Mr. Xray, qualifies as a Quaker/Deist!)
You’re right. I noticed the same thing about his hand coming down and the digit being on the left side instead of the middle. People over at Daily Kos who are shredding you are idiots.
Bush has been symbolically giving the finger to the poor and middle class since he took office…not to mention the finger he’s given the world community by invading Iraq on the basis of lies…
We all know chimpotus is really dumb, but even he would know that flipping off the media is a bad idea. It was fun while it lasted, but alas, I agree with you Mrboma, it does in fact look like chimpco’s thumb.
as bugs would say, chimpco, what a maroon.
Dunno. I agree that it’s not bird (good work on that, mrboma) but could easily see Shrub birding the press. For good or ill, that’s not an uncommon generally derisive gesture in Texas; it carries a much less literal meaning here than it does other places perhaps…
(Which, too, is typical Shrubbery… when’s the last time ANYTHING he said was worth taking at face value or meant what it said?)
Good work Mrboma. You have shown us that people see what they want to see. I admit the other version serves to reinforce my opinion of Mrbush. I haven’t looked at dKos – it’s not hard to figure out how this diary went over there. I hope you’ll find a more mature response here. Hopefully we can all learn to abandon our childish emotionalism in dealing with each other. Will the truth really set us free?