These pictures says it all

[sabra]

U.S. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush stand on a carpet commemorating the date of the attacks of September 11, 2001 near a mural depicting those attacks outside the Ladder Company 10 firehouse opposite the site of the World Trade Center in New York, September 10, 2006. Bush lay a wreath at Ground Zero before visiting a chapel for a memorial service. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES)

edit: no caption needed.

[Catherine Vincent]

1. You can see their asses out on this one....

[beyurslf]

4. Is she wearing black lipstick?

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. They both look terrified

and why is W desecrating the flag again?

[Monkeyman]

3. Told you a day early no protest

[Rex]

5. Looks like a photoshopped Q3 map.

nt

[populistdriven]

46. lol

www.joe.to for liberal gamers

[Skip Intro]

6. "Let me wipe my feet on America before we go in."

He's got his foot on the flag. Is that a doormat. Wow, that is so poetic.

[patrice]

7. A flag on a door-mat!!!!

That's not a caption; I just CAN'T believe it . . . . . ?

Okay, so it doesn't have the requisite number of stars, so that makes it okay?

[unpossibles]

16. no it doesn't - technically you're not supposed to make things

that even resemble the flag.

Criminal penalties for certain acts of desecration to the flag were contained in Title 18 of the United States Code prior to 1989. The Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson; June 21, 1989, held the statute unconstitutional. This statute was amended when the Flag Protection Act of 1989 (Oct. 28, 1989) imposed a fine and/or up to I year in prison for knowingly mutilating, defacing, physically defiling, maintaining on the floor or trampling upon any flag of the United States. The Flag Protection Act of 1989 was struck down by the Supreme Court decision, United States vs. Eichman, decided on June 11, 1990.
<snip>
Any person who, within the District of Columbia, in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America; or shall expose or cause to be exposed to public view any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign upon which shall have been printed, painted, or otherwise placed, or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed, or annexed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall manufacture, sell, expose for sale, or to public view, or give away or have in possession for sale, or to be given away or for use for any purpose, any article or substance being an article of merchandise, or a receptacle for merchandise or article or thing for carrying or transporting merchandise, upon which shall have been printed, painted, attached, or otherwise placed a representation of any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign, to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark, or distinguish the article or substance on which so placed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. The words ''flag, standard, colors, or ensign'', as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.
<snip>
Sec. 8. - Respect for flag

No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.

(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.

(c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.

(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.

(e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.

(g) The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.

(h) The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.

(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.

(j) No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations. The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the lapel flag pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart.

(k) The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.

http://www.suvcw.org/flag.htm
http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html

I know it sounds silly, but I have no problem with burning a flag as a sign of protest - I do have a problem with people who disrespect it out of ignorance.

[patrice]

19. That's gotta be photoshopped.

* isn't THAT stupid.

[sabra]

25. it's straight from yahoo news...

[patrice]

26. Wow!

Un-effing-believable!

You'd think the guy and his handlers would have some sensitivity to how people feel about his royal ways.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

8. That cocksucker is STEPPING ON OUR FLAG.

NOW I'm pissed off.

[Rose Siding]

9. Who would even think of putting the flag on a *rug*?

I mean, it's just a symbol but I don't think I'd actually step on it.

[elehhhhna]

31. Question: WTF is UP w/ his carpet obsession? Answer:

He spends lots of time face down drunk on them? WHAT?

[SmokingJacket]

37. "The presiden't feet must not touch the dirt."

http://www.unknownnews.net/insanity031104.html

[Janice325]

10. Shrub and Pickles look like bad action figures.

Gag!
Sorry I can't think of a caption.

[gulliver]

11. Kinda speaks for itself.

What a picture! Great find! How does he do it?!?! It wouldn't be possible to write a character that assholish in a novel. He is a virtuoso ass, a pluperfect rendition of the Platonic ideal of an ass. He has transcended the bounds of human flesh. With this picture, Bush joins the gods of assholishness. Retire the Guiness Book page. There will never be another like him.

On edit: Are we sure this isn't PhotoShopped, sabra?

On further edit: Wow! It's not PhotoShopped. It's just so stunning. Here is a guy who has to have some sort of backdrop projected or draped behind him at every single appearance, but he thinks nothing of being photographed stepping on a flag with a 9/11 sentiment on it. Just wow!

[TwentyFive]

12. No caption could do this pic justice. n/t

[Catherine Vincent]

13. Can you imagine the shit Clinton or Gore would have received

if they had done this? They let Bush get away with anything. Why? I don't know.

[raccoon]

33. Amen/Ramen to that! The presstitutes would be all over Clinton

or Gore six ways from Sunday for that...but they give Bush a free pass on everything. If he pissed on the flag they'd say it wasn't his fault, he has overactive bladder. :shrug:

[merh]

14. How about their 2003 interview?

Noonan: You were separated on September 11th. What was it like when you saw each other again?

Mrs. Bush: Well, we just hugged. I think there was a certain amount of security in being with each other than being apart.

President Bush: But the day ended on a relatively humorous note. The agents said, "You'll be sleeping downstairs. Washington's still a dangerous place." And I said no, I can't sleep down there, the bed didn't look comfortable. I was really tired, Laura was tired, we like our own bed. We like our own routine. You know, kind of a nester. Like the way things are. I knew I had to deal with the issue the next day and provide strength and comfort to the country, and so I needed rest in order to be mentally prepared. So I told the agent we're going upstairs, and he reluctantly said okay. Laura wears contacts, and she was sound asleep. Barney was there. And the agent comes running up and says, "We're under attack. We need you downstairs," and so there we go. I'm in my running shorts and my T-shirt, and I'm barefooted. Got the dog in one hand, Laura had a cat, I'm holding Laura --

Mrs. Bush: I don't have my contacts in, and I'm in my fuzzy house slippers --

President Bush: And this guy's out of breath, and we're heading straight down to the basement because there's an incoming unidentified airplane, which is coming toward the White House. Then the guy says it's a friendly airplane. And we hustle all the way back upstairs and go to bed.

Mrs. Bush: (laughs) And we just lay there thinking about the way we must have looked.

Noonan: So the day starts in tragedy and ends in Marx Brothers.

President Bush: That's right -- we got a laugh out of it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2102542

[Sparkly]

20. I just had to trace all those links to make sure this wasn't satire....

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!

(Btw, didn't he also say around New Year's Day that it had been a great year for him and Laura?)

[merh]

27. Yep - he sure did.

"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." – George W. Bush, Dec. 2001

http://www.thedailystar.net/magazine/2005/12/04/jokes.htm
http://www.ctv.ca/special/sept11/hubs/america/fires.html

[Tatiana]

21. Unbelievable. That family never ceases to disgust me... n/t

[soup]

15. Thank you for changing your title.

How can there be a caption when there's just no words other than, 'that sonofabitch, how dare he?'

[MoonRiver]

17. Says some riff raff are desecrating sacred soil.

:puke:

[Tatiana]

18. Has there ever been a more classless, disrespectful American President?

I don't think so....

[Richard Steele]

22. This administration is ALL about the SYMBOLISM, aren't they?

[jazzjunkysue]

23. Animatronic programming failed to anticipate flag rugs. Damn.

Day after tomorrow, get them right in to the shop for a refit.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. 'Nuff Said. nt

[leftofthedial]

28. what?

not pissing on it?

[rasputin1952]

29. That is just plain reprehensible

I am disgusted.

[soup]

30. In **his own words

because I have none:

January 5, 2002

President Holds Town Hall Forum on Economy in California
Ontario Convention Center
Ontario, California

>>Last question, then I've got to go up to Oregon. Yes, ma'am. Then I've got to go back out to the ranch. There are a couple of cows waiting for me. (Laughter.) You know, when I first got back from Washington, it seemed like the cows were talking back. (Laughter.) But now that I've spent some time in Crawford, they're just cows. (Laughter.)

Yes, ma'am?

Q What is the status and your feeling on the amendment to prohibit flag desecration?

THE PRESIDENT: I don't know what it is. I'm for it. And that's a good question. I just don't know exactly where it stands right now. I need to -- okay. Como esta?<<
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/01/20020105-3.html

August 22, 2005

President Honors Veterans of Foreign Wars at National Convention
Salt Palace Convention Center
Salt Lake City, Utah

>>We've also expanded grants to help homeless veterans in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. No veteran who served in the blazing heat or bitter cold of foreign lands should have to live without shelter in the very country whose freedom they fought for. (Applause.) You defended our flag in uniform; you continue to defend the flag today.

I share the VFW's strong support for a constitutional amendment to protect the American flag. (Applause.) In June, the House of Representatives voted to ban flag desecration, and I urge the United States Senate to pass this important amendment this year. (Applause.)

At this hour, a new generation of Americans is defending our flag and our freedom in the first war of the 21st century. The war came to our shores on the morning of September the 11th, 2001. Since then the terrorists have continued to strike -- in Bali, in Riyadh, in Istanbul, and Madrid, and Baghdad, and London, and Sharm el-Sheikh and elsewhere. The enemy, the terrorists, are ruthless and brutal. They're fighting on behalf of a hateful ideology that despises everything America stands for.<<
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050822-1.html

bah...

[robbedvoter]

32. Floors, carpeting, stepping over - important for Bushes. Invaded Iraq

just so they could remove the bathroom mosaic of Poppy they had in soma palace...
Then all the blather about replacing Clinton's carpet...
This outrage is not an accident. It comes from someone obsessed for years that enemies were stepping on his daddy's image. Now, he gets to step on the enemy...

[patrice]

40. You may be onto something there. n/t

[Marie26]

44. Isn't he obsessed with

some yellow rug in the Oval Office?

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

34. Is that a welcome mat for terrorists?

What a buffoon.

[GeorgeGist]

35. Forever in our hearts...

and under our feet.

[SmokingJacket]

36. And some people wonder why some of us are paranoid!!

It's hard not to read a lot of Bush's behavior as obvious message sending. How could anyone do this by accident????

Just like strumming the guitar while New Olreans drowned.

[patrice]

39. There's way more to the old notion of a "Freudian slip" than

we commonly credit.

Think of how, I'll use a personal example here and I hope it doesn't offend you, when you're very concerned about something such as your weight, and you're maybe in an un-familiar situation that includes someone who is perhaps grossly overweight, and not being real careful about what you are saying, just kind of making small talk, what slips out? Stuff such as "Oh my diet . . . ." "I'm so depressed about my weight . . . ." etc.

This is a man who experienced NO restrictions before maybe 40 years old. I believe it is possible that GWB feels so assaulted by the level of personal interference and restriction he feels from us: he has to work more than he wants to; he can't say whatever he wants to say; his social life, especially with members of the opposite sex, is completely prescribed; everything about him is controlled by his job . . . . He resents this and there is nothing he can do about it, so these little accidents, like the one photographed here, happen.

He really meant it when he said " . . . so long as I'm the dictator." He resents his job and that fact expresses itself in various ways.

People will say "It was an accident." But there are reasons why a person has at least some of the accidents that s/he has. It's always interesting to ask why the lapse in attention at this particular moment.

[Skidmore]

38. In Iran, after the revolution, they used to paint the American flag on

school playgrounds so that the students had to march over them during the opening exercises of the schoolday and chant "Death to America." This is what this reminds me of.

[havocmom]

41. Wiping their feet on the flag

and only able to stand because of 9-11

Photo is pure poetry.

[Marie26]

42. Freudian step

Saying "I am above the law." L'etat, c'est moi.

[tridim]

43. Is he grinding out Pickles' cigarette butt in this one?

Sure looks like it.

[anarch]

45. Jesus Christ! What's next? Toilet paper with the Constitution printed

on it? Or maybe the names of all the 9/11 victims and the service people who've died in Iraq?

I have to say, symbolically crushing America under his heel fits right in with his program....

[samsingh]

47. they're standing on the flag!

[mhatrw]

48. kick n/t