What exactly is that jock cup thing and why is it important? Was he REALLY trying

[Maraya1969]

to look well hung or is it just some piece of parachute suit equipment?

[lvx35]

1. Ah... I remember that moment!

That was the moment of victory when the Iraq war was won, and the president posed with his balls in a crotch cradle for the nation to see in a manufactured photo op.

History is going to look back at all of us. We will all be judged. Start making up your excuses now.

[Botany]

2. Really it is not a "cod piece"

but part of a flight suit to help in "high g" turns.

Real pilots unsnap the unit when they land .... since bush
was never a real pilot and this was a photo op he walked around
like an idiot.

[Kool Kitty]

3. Well, Chris Matthews and

Gordon Liddy were MOST impressed. someone should have turned a hose on the two of them.

[Up2Late]

7. They both must be tiny...

...which wouldn't surprise me for a second, seeing how much they yell and act like they trying to prove their manhood.:hide:

[Frank Cannon]

12. You could almost hear Matthews fap fap fapping...

below the desk while he ogled this video of his manly Commander Codpiece. He really should have waited until he was off the air.

[Journeyman]

4. My understanding is, pilots loosen those straps when not flying. . .

because they're so constrictive. Their purpose is to hold the pilot's flight vest and parachute in place -- they wrap around the legs and under the groin so the force of a parachute's deployment won't pull the parachute off the pilot's body.

It could be we're looking at George W's package here, though comparisons shown at the time with him in other clothes left a distinct belief there was something more beneath that flight suit. If so, it's probably an athletic cup, intended to give the impression George W is "all man" (just ask Chris Matthews). It could be, too, George W is a Tull fan (though that I find an incredible stretch), or he just likes the look Ian Anderson affected on stage when he wore a codpiece.

[Lasher]

5. That's a parachute harness.

The optional potato should always be worn in the front.

Here's comments by G. Gordon Liddy and Tweety who were checking out the presidential package at the time - NAUSEA ALERT:

On the May 7, 2003, edition of Hardball, Matthews asked former Nixon administration official G. Gordon Liddy what he thought of the response to Bush's landing on the Abraham Lincoln. Looking at the footage, Liddy commented that Bush's flight suit made "the best of his manly characteristic." From the May 7 Hardball:

MATTHEWS: What do you make of this broadside against the USS Abraham Lincoln and its chief visitor last week?

LIDDY: Well, I -- in the first place, I think it's envy. I mean, after all, Al Gore had to go get some woman to tell him how to be a man. And here comes George Bush. You know, he's in his flight suit, he's striding across the deck, and he's wearing his parachute harness, you know -- and I've worn those because I parachute -- and it makes the best of his manly characteristic. You go run those -- run that stuff again of him walking across there with the parachute. He has just won every woman's vote in the United States of America. You know, all those women who say size doesn't count -- they're all liars. Check that out. I hope the Democrats keep ratting on him and all of this stuff so that they keep showing that tape.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200604270005?f=h_top

[jillan]

6. I think it's for the same reason that guys put socks in their pants

To make up for what they don't have.

I think he outta be more concerned about what he is lacking in his brain, then what he is lacking in - ew - I can't even think about that.

[melody]

8. Wouldn't surprise me

Some gonzo psychologists actually suggested that Bush-and-Quayle may have failed because "Bush" is a euphemism for
public hair and "quayle" for "vagina", which is why they went with Bush-and-Dick this time.

I put no stock in the theory, I merely state it. lol

[orleans]

9. rachel maddow was on olbermann tonight at the end of his show

they were talking about this "event" on the ship and rachel mentioned this codpiece look bush was donning and his "little weapon of mass destruction"

it was absolutely hysterical!!!

[Duer 157099]

10. And I heard Randi said that he's got a shrimp in that codpiece n/t

[youngdem]

11. Those are parachute straps...He's just too stupid to know that you disconnect them when not flying

Guess he forgot from his flying days :eyes:

[trof]

15. Thank you. I have explained this until blue in the face.

[DrDan]

13. it certainly was on purpose - the whole thing was so highly scripted

do you think they would actually let him walk around with that helmet if it were not part of the script

[xchrom]

14. it's a purposeful presentation.

these guys leave no stone unturned -- or no opportunity to show off a well placed sock.

this photo was planned -- right down to his stuffing.