Watchgate: Snow says Bush took off his watch, placed it in his pocket

[sabra]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/

<snip>

At a briefing this morning, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow denied reports of theft, saying that the president took off his watch, placed it in his pocket and that the watch returned safely home.

[Donnachaidh]

1. That's not real good PR for him either

What -- he's afraid of the great unwashed of Albania stealing his $50 Timex? :sarcasm:

[Kurovski]

4. Since Bush is himself a criminal, of course he's going to consider

the angles in advance.

[Tempest]

6. Albania doubled its GDP by stealing the watch

I can't believe the Albanians greeted Bush like they did considering Bush was against U.S. involvement there.

I don't have a high opinion of their intelligence.

[gilpo]

16. Hey now... we're the ones that reelected the bastard. nt

[Tempest]

19. That's what they'll have you believe

There's too many verified instances of voting fraud to consider the 2000 and 2004 elections valid.

[Donnachaidh]

25. uhh -- not ME, I voted for Kerry

But for the rest who did vote for bush -- happy now that he's bankrupted the country yet?

Did you look at his previous records of destroying not one, but TWO oil companies. Didn't it make you a tad nervous?

[gilpo]

32. Me, too. And for the record, I've never voted for a republican in my life...

My grandfather was Deputy Sec. Defense for Kennedy... The blue runs deep in my family.

[uppityperson]

27. we "reelected"? I think you will find that claim disputed here

First of all, probably not many DUers that voted for mrbush either election. Which "we" do you mean?

Secondly there is enough questionable activities associated with the vote that whether or not he was elected at all is in dispute. He was installed by the Supreme Court the first time, and enough nasty vote stuff happened 2004 that I wouldn't claim he was "reelected".

[gilpo]

31. I meant the collective "we" as in "We The People"

I'm sure no one here (or only the trolls, lurking freeps, etc.) voted for him, but it remains that there were something like 59 million votes counted in bush's column. It was close enough to steal.

[uppityperson]

35. What I find disturbing is not "how did they steal it" but that as many people voted for him as did.

I do not believe any numbers given are accurate, but yes, there were people who voted for him in 2004 and those I find appalling. Thanks for the clarification.

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Faux Snooze reported it is a special watch - a gift from a college classmate

who is an executive with Timex. It is engraved on the face with his name and POTUS. So it sounds like it is worth a bit more than $50.

[Johonny]

37. I'm sure they made that up

After it occurred to them that someone as rich as * and claims to be the “CEO” president should have something better on than a Timex on a diplomatic mission to Europe.

[proud2BlibKansan]

38. They also never reported that he had put it in his pocket

and they didn't show the video I saw on MSNBC that shows him placing it in his pocket.

Faux would rather we all believe the Albanians are thieves.

[Johonny]

39. well one Albanian

at least. That would make 1 American thief and 1 Albanian thief in that video.

[babylonsister]

2. Can't go ticking off those Albanians, the only people in the world

who can actually stand him!}(

[soothsayer]

14. "Takes a licking, keeps on ticking off the Albanians"

[MNDemNY]

3. I saw a different camera angle,

it does seem that he took it off himself.

[peace13]

5. Yes, under these circumstances the pocket

would be much safer. I doubt that, but hey it was only a watch. Not like it was a life or a fetus or anything. I find it hard to believe that I could not even get in to an arena to listen to my own pResident speak and these people can glop all over him like jelly on bread. The world of opposites as we know it. Peace, Kim

[DFW]

7. Well, rats!

Assuming Snow is not lying (a dangerous move in itself),
then Bush wasn't as careless as originally reported.

On the other hand, the White House was forced to come out
and take the time to inform the American public that Bush
did, too, keep track of his $50 watch. That shows how poor
an image Bush has--they have to reassure the American public
that Bush is capable of keeping track of his own watch.

That's like having to make a public statement that he can,
too, tie his shoes. Come to think of it, if Tony Snow had
to state that publicly, I'd have my doubts about that as well.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

8. What? Someone took his Swatch?

[alphafemale]

9. Tony Snow, "Are you going to believe me, or your own lying eyes?"

This is unbelievable. :eyes:

[Bitwit1234]

10. Well I would rather think someone swiped it THEN

to think bush was so skeptical of his audience he removed it. What does that say for him. Better yet what do the Albanians say....

[Bozita]

11. Bet it was digital. All those hands can be soooo confusing.

[partylessinOhio]

12. That's even worse! Gypsies, tramps and thieves!

[Bluerthanblue]

13. "Who ate the strawberries?!!!???"

while playing with his little steel balls-

:evilgrin:

Commander *queeg

[Bluebear]

15. That's even worse, you chickenshit piker monkey! nt

[Old and In the Way]

17. I saw the Albanian footage....I didn't see anything like that.

I suppose it's possible, but only if he had a flex strap. He clearly had it on at the start of the hand shaking....then it's gone 30 seconds later. I thought it fell off as he seemed to be looking on the ground before continuing to move down the line.

I have no idea why this crowd thinks he's great...leadership must really suck in Albania.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. And has Tony Snow ever lied to you? There's a series of pictures on another thread that

clearly shows a young man with the watch in his hand and it's not Bush!

Edit to add link: http://www.repubblica.it/2006/05/gallerie/esteri/bush-orologio/9.html


Look at the 'fist' to the left of Bush's head. Am I seeing things or isn't that a strap? And if you move the cursor around that hand, there's a 'pop up'.

[Tempest]

20. Follow the pictures carefully

The watch is already off in that sequence.

You can clearly seen skin where the band should be.

Also, there's no band in the guy's hand that I can see.

[onenote]

21. doesn't look like anything to me

From my experience working on campaigns, its pretty common for candidates either to take off their watches or to not wear one when working a "line". Its not because they're afraid of the watching getting ripped off, its that the band can get caught on someone's shirtsleeve of scratch someone while you are repeatedly reaching into the crowd.

[sabra]

22. I saw a report that in this pic he is taking the watch off and giving it to secret service agent

[Ezlivin]

23. eBay will prove if Tony Snow is a liar

I'm sure some entrepreneurial Albanian will take action...

[Retrograde]

24. lying is like crack: once you get into the habit

it's really hard to give it up.

[alphafemale]

26. He never brings his hands together in front of his body.

When could he have taken his watch off?

And they're saying he handed off something in the one frame where you don't see both his hands?

Sure.

[bananarepublican]

28. If they so easily lie about a stolen watch...

Here was a non-descript incident where the Whitehouse could have attempted to show an ounce of honesty... and what do we get? Their first reflexive response is to trash the truth!!!

Who the heck are the 30%, or so, of the population who still support the 'Bush-slick of criminality' still spreading across the globe?

[krispos42]

29. I checked eBay. It's not on there

The auction would double Albania's GDP. Lord knows some freeper would stain his shorts for a chance to buy Bush's Timex. Even with a 28% approval rating, that's still about a hundred million people...

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=Bush+wrist+watch&category0=

[Skittles]

30. where are our missing soldiers?

gawd these repuke bastards make me S I C K

[EnviroBat]

34. Hey, I've got a question...

Why is it that the people in that crowd were allowed to touch DerChimp, even grab his wrists and such, and no one did the right thing by tearing his arms off and beating him with them? I mean, he never gets all "touch feely" with crowds in this country anymore...

[bdamomma]

36. he wouldn't want to give away a $50 dollar watch, what a jerk!!!

[Az]

40. See if you can catch the vid shown on the Colbert Report

Its not clear but it looks like he did take the watch off after the first grab fest. He lowers his arms and you can see his shoulders hunch together as though he is doing something. He then turns to the right and seems to hand something off to the CIA guy.