Bush Salutes Satan

[strandinthewind]

OK - that was misleading - or was it

Bush Shocks Foreigners With 'Satanic' Sign

Friday, January 21, 2005



OSLO, Norway — President Bush's "Hook 'em, 'horns" salute got lost in translation in Norway, where shocked people interpreted his hand gesture during his inauguration as a salute to Satan.

That's what it means in the Nordic countries when you throw up the right hand with the index and pinky fingers raised, a gesture popular among heavy metal groups and their fans in the region.

"Shock greeting from Bush daughter," a headline in the Norwegian Internet newspaper Nettavisen said above a photograph of Bush's daughter Jenna, smiling and showing the sign.

For Texans, the gesture is a sign of love for the University of Texas Longhorns (search), whose fans are known to shout out "Hook 'em, 'horns!" at sporting events.

Bush, a former Texas governor, and his family made the sign to greet the Longhorn marching band as it passed during the inaugural parade through Washington during Thursday's festivities, Norway's largest newspaper, Verdens Gang, explained to its readers.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,145062,00.html

Yet more evidence the man is an idiot

Well, at least he did not gesture with his hands to Stevie Wonder this time

[amber]

If you add the thumb to that sign, it means "I Love You" in sign language...
though, i'm not sure this is a case of Bush being a dumbass (which he is) as much as a cultural misunderstanding...

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Well, at least he did not gesture with his hands to Stevie Wonder this time

I read somewhere that that story was completely fabricated. It wasn't?

Anyway, I think the Norwegians got it right, really.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by GateandGarden

I read somewhere that that story was completely fabricated. It wasn't?

Anyway, I think the Norwegians got it right, really.

There are a ton of items if you google it. Inj a nutshell and in sum, one side says W was merely waving in that direction and not at Stevie Wonder, the other says there was no one else to wave at in that direction - thus reasoning Bush was an idiot to be waving at a man he must have known was blind

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

There are a ton of items if you google it. Inj a nutshell and in sum, one side says W was merely waving in that direction and not at Stevie Wonder, the other says there was no one else to wave at in that direction - thus reasoning Bush was an idiot to be waving at a man he must have known was blind

Okay, I see the debate now. It's really funny to think he might've been waving at a blind guy, though. I'd like to stick with that.

[strandinthewind]

Top 11 reasons Bush waved to Stevie Wonder.

11. Seemed like a good time to try-out his sign language.

10. Force of habit: spent youth taunting disabled kids.

9. Just trying to raise the roof.

8. Forgot his name.

7. Daughters bet him a six pack he wouldn't do it.

6. Karl Rove getting cocky.

5. Minority-wooing programming supersedes disabled-sensitivity programming. Must write patch for version 2 of software.

4. Karen Hughes couldn't see who was on stage when she was transmitting to Bush's "hearing aid."

3. One word: Flashback

2. Sensed the attention of the room drifting to the stage.

1. "The Wave" doesn't start by itself.

http://www.toostupidtobepresident.co...eviewonder.htm

[estranged4life]

all he did was the "Hooked the Horns" sign...But even then he did it incorrectly, Ya have to make sure yer palms are facing up when ya do that dumb hand sign cause that is how ALL Oklahomans do that sign of non-support for the Texas Long(time before we beat Oklahoma)horns

For us metal-heads it's "Horns up"!!!

\m/_<*-*>_\m/

[strandinthewind]

Here is some beef on the waving at a blind man story:

Claim: Hoping to attract the singer's attention at the March 2002 Presidential Gala, George W. Bush waved at Stevie Wonder.
Status: False.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2002]


When Stevie Wonder sat down at the keyboard center stage, President Bush in the front row got very excited. He smiled and started waving at Wonder, who understandably did not respond. After a moment Bush realized his mistake and slowly dropped the errant hand back to his lap.
I know I shouldn't have," a witness told us yesterday, "but I started laughing."




Origins: This
story appeared in the pages of The Washington Post in early March 2002. Because it was such a juicy tidbit ("The Prez is such a dolt, he waves at blind folks!"), it was subsequently picked up by numerous talk radio hosts who gleefully fed it to their listeners and reached an even larger audience through the medium of television via Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Saturday Night Live.

Was it true? Well, not really. Although Stevie Wonder did perform at the 3 March 2002 Presidential Gala held at the Ford Theatre in Washington where President Bush was in attendance, the "wave" was both far less than initially made out to be and appears to have been directed at someone else.

After running the item as true and being challenged upon it by the Ford's Theatre Artistic Director, who was seated by the President that night and didn't at all recall this incident, Washington Post writer Lloyd Grove delved further into the story. Editors working on turning film of that event into a television special (which is scheduled to air April 12) went frame by frame through the video captured by the "presidential isocam" (as the camera trained on Bush is called). At the point where Wonder was getting settled behind his keyboard, Bush briefly raised his palm and smiled. The gesture was not the excited, enthused wave it is now comically portrayed to be; it was a small motion of the sort one routinely makes to an acquaintance across a crowded room. Moreover, the motion appears to have been directed at Kelsey Grammer, the emcee of the evening.

Stories that showcase blockheadedness stick to George W. Bush like feathers to a tar-coated chicken because they seemingly confirm what much of the public already holds as true about this public figure, that he's not the brightest fellow that's ever been. It is human nature to revel in yarns that the hearer at some level agrees with, thus tales of this sort will always fall upon appreciative ears. Witness the excitment with which the false story about presidential I.Q., as Bush's ranking upon this list was greeted as another example of this phenomenon in action.

And yet, even if the story had been true, even if President Bush had waved at a blind man, hard-up comics might have seen that as fodder for their "Bush is so dumb!" routines, but most folks would have seen such a gaffe as something that can -- and does -- happen to anyone.

People who can see and who have good hearing react with the world around them in the manner they are accustomed to. Our methods of greeting those we encounter are so deeply ingrained that the sighted and hearing don't think twice about them -- a hand goes up or a name gets called out while we're still on autopilot. The realization that the person being waved to couldn't have seen the gesture only begins to sink in when the one offering the greeting fails to get the expected wave in return and starts wondering if his friend is peeved with him. Likewise, only when "Bob, hey Bob; over here!" fails to provoke a response does the shouter remember that his friend is deaf.

George W. Bush may or may not be a brilliant man, but this "waving at Stevie Wonder" anecdote would fail to prove anything, even if it were true. However, like the "Hilary throws a lamp" tale (which supposedly offered confirmation that she was an evil-tempered virago via an illustrative story about her pitching a lamp at Bill's head), this story is likely to trail after President Bush for as long as he's in office and for years beyond that. We like our caricatures drawn with simple lines, after all.

Barbara "receiving line" Mikkelson

Last updated: 13 March 2002
http://www.snopes2.com/inboxer/outrage/bushwave.htm

[GateandGarden]

Thanks for the info, Jason. Oh, and I like that list.

But did that article have to remind me that Kelsey Grammer likes Bush? I never understood that.

[amber]

Originally Posted by GateandGarden

Thanks for the info, Jason. Oh, and I like that list.

But did that article have to remind me that Kelsey Grammer likes Bush? I never understood that.

me, neither, but by all accounts, he's an a-hole... Still, I am sad, since he was a part of two of my favorite sitcoms...

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

There are a ton of items if you google it. Inj a nutshell and in sum, one side says W was merely waving in that direction and not at Stevie Wonder, the other says there was no one else to wave at in that direction - thus reasoning Bush was an idiot to be waving at a man he must have known was blind

There are pictures to support the latter, dear. Any man who waves at Stevie Wonder has a serious problem and it isn't comforting to know that it's the POTU.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

7. Daughters bet him a six pack he wouldn't do it.

My fabrit one.

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by dissention

There are pictures to support the latter, dear. Any man who waves at Stevie Wonder has a serious problem and it isn't comforting to know that it's the POTU.

Damn, I need to get my priorities straight and really think about what's important because when I see POTU I think Planets of the Universe and not the President of the United Status.

[Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by GateandGarden

Damn, I need to get my priorities straight and really think about what's important because when I see POTU I think Planets of the Universe and not the President of the United Status.

tly what popped into my head POTU = Planets of the the Universe to me

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by GateandGarden

I read somewhere that that story was completely fabricated. It wasn't?

Anyway, I think the Norwegians got it right, really.

There are photos.
Makes you wonder doesn't it?