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Bush’s UN Bathroom Break
If these pictures weren't posted on Yahoo! News, I would find it very hard to believe them to be real. But there they are, credited to Reuters photographer Rick Wilking, and accompanied by this caption:

U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005.

I suppose even Presidents need to go to the bathroom.
image image
Categories: Photos, Politics
Posted by Alex on Wed Sep 14, 2005
Comments (45)
More from the Hoax Museum Archives:
Snopes is calling the pics authentic, although not crediting the bathroom text to Bush outright (it may be him writing the text on the bottom, and someone else's text above?) Anywho: http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/bushnote.asp
Posted by Splarka  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  01:41 AM
I wonder if it may be photoshopped - just the text at least...it seems to me that there's a little bit of fuzziness surrounding the text. And the "b" in "possible" seems to be missing the bottom. I would've expected it to be visible up to the pencil!
Posted by Smerk  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  02:20 AM
"When can I have my nap?"
Posted by Reynard Muldrake  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  02:21 AM
now really, is wanting a bathroom break really that big of a deal? people are obsessed with finding anything remotely flawed with the president to attack him with nowadays.
Posted by Tom  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  02:39 AM
Drudge credits the top of the note to Condolezza Rice as the person requesting the bathroom break. If you look closely, the top request is printed while the bottom is in cursive.

Isn't this a bit intrusive? Granted the note was harmless and a bit funny (and will definitely get much airtime on liberal blogs, latenight talk shows, etc), but an over the shoulder photo of the president's documents? Good thing he didn't have any pertinent national security documents on his desk.
Posted by Chris Carlisle  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  05:17 AM
"now really, is wanting a bathroom break really that big of a deal? people are obsessed with finding anything remotely flawed with the president to attack him with nowadays"

Posted by Tom


Well it appears Bush did not write that top part but Tom, c'mon, even if you are an ardent Bush supporter don't you find it even the slightest bit humorous that Bush would be asking permission to take a potty break from Condaleezza? Granted, we know now that is not the case but initially thats what struck me as humorous.
Posted by Chuck  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  06:21 AM
I think it IS a little bit funny if the president of USA think he has to ask if he may use the bathroom, still, depending on who is speaking, it could be interpreted in a lot of strange ways if he just got up and left, so why not ask for advice.
Posted by Mikkel  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  06:36 AM
I think it's funny that the president even goes to the bathroom. I guess he's human after all.
Posted by AqueousBoy  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  07:50 AM
The president uses the bathroom too????
Posted by X  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  07:58 AM
Nah, ole Georgie was just drunk again!
Posted by Jorge  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  08:01 AM
I was thinking about the different script (printed, vs. cursive), and the top may be that someone has asked to go, and then the cursive does appear to be the beginnings of a reply: Is is possible ....to wait, to hold it, to use a paper cup?
Posted by Maegan  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  08:59 AM
Ohw, funny. If the question is Condoleezza's and the answer being written is Bush, it opens up room for al kinds of naughty speculation.
Posted by LaMa  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  09:27 AM
C.: "I think I may need a bathroom break?" ---> = "I feel horny, please join me at the bathroom and do what we did last time, remember?"

W.: "is this possible without..." "...someone nabbing us? I seem to vaguely remember one of my predecessors got into serious trouble with a thing like this..."

😜
Posted by LaMa  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  09:33 AM
"a bathroom break" could seriously be code for something else. Knowing that they couldn't communicate privately, it would make sense to have a secret code. Or it could just mean what it says.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  10:23 AM
Notice that "bath" in "bathroom" is capitalized. The word "need" is also capitalized. What he's really saying is "I NEED A BATH."

joemono
Posted by joemono  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  11:53 AM
I don't think Shrub's handwriting is really that good. Otherwise, I could believe it.

While most adults would just get up and go, perhaps saying "Excuse me for a minute," W's Exxon and Halliburton handlers obviously have him on such a short leash (remember the hidden earpiece incident?) that he doesn't do ANYTHING without a nod from them.
Posted by Big Gary in Dallas  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  04:38 PM
What I find incredibly amusing is that the ostensible leader of the Free World only "thinks" he may need a bathroom break. I don't know about you but I was pretty sure when I needed to go to the bathroom by about age 4.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  07:15 PM
"now really, is wanting a bathroom break really that big of a deal? people are obsessed with finding anything remotely flawed with the president to attack him with nowadays"

Yeah! We should be fair-minded, not assume the worst, and give George the benefit of the doubt. Just the way you guys treated Clinton.
Posted by Barghest  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  07:24 PM
Will this note be on display in bush's presidential library some day?

(Okay, if he didn't write most of it, then how about the National Archives?)

Imagine what future generations will think.....
Posted by Nigel  on  Thu Sep 15, 2005  at  07:52 PM
At least Clinton KNEW for sure when he had a biological urge.
Posted by Cranky Media Guy  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  12:37 AM
I'm not really a supporter of any political party Chuck, in 2004 I voted for myself for president.

My point was simply people blow things out of proportion when it comes to the president(any).
Posted by Tom  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  02:00 AM
Its real, that's for sure. That pic its all over the press around the world, a photoshopped pic isnt that fast. Its not just the question thats making such a big deal.. its the expression of Condolezza Rice's face reading it too.
Posted by Giorgio  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  07:14 AM
Some people here are right... it is not a big deal that the bush needs to take a leak... the deal is that he needs to ask permission.

If the dude needs permission to piss... Who is he asking permission from on the big issues...
Posted by "Liberal is not a swear"  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  09:04 AM
Nigel, where do you get the idea that Shrub wrote most of (or any of) ANYTHING that's going to end up in his Presidential Library (which they are threatening to put here in Dallas, ugh!)?
Posted by Big Gary in Dallas  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  10:33 AM
Okay, Giorgio - being all over the news doesn't mean it's not photoshopped. Additionally, Condolezza Rice isn't in any of the pictures that I've seen.

Also, as has been pointed out quite often before, it looks like Bush is responding to someone else's note, and it's not posed as a request, it's a statement.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  10:40 AM
Thought the moron wore Pampers anyway.
Posted by steve  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  10:55 AM
Tom, I wasnt suggesting you were a Bush supporter, I don't throw around insults like that :lol:

and yes, I agree with you, things get blown out of proportion...it was still funny though 😊
Posted by Chuck  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  11:27 AM
Actually, I think that entire note is written by GW. The words "think" and "this" certainly look like the same handwriting. Lots of people mix cursive and printing, and it's apparent that our president does also. (The word "possible" is entirely printed, for example.)

I think this is hilarious. For numerous reasons, most of which are already mentioned here. And if the man didn't want to be made fun of on occasion, then he shouldn't have become a politician.
Posted by bjb  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  11:58 AM
Bill Clinton's UN "To do" List
Posted by RobX  on  Fri Sep 16, 2005  at  02:38 PM
Why would he be writing on the bottom of someone else's note asking to go to the bathroom?
Posted by Reynard Muldrake  on  Sat Sep 17, 2005  at  04:45 AM
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