My goodness, Barack giving Hillary the finger! Soooo Presidential. Oh, well, maybe Mr. Multi-culti thinks it is a Hawaiian Good Luck sign. The LA Times blog has the short version with a still; it's at about 1:10 on this extended version hosted by Matt Yglesias and promoted for the Jay-Z shout out at about 2:20.
A commenter at the LA Times helps the old fogies with the code-breaking:
The reaction of the crowd cannot be explained by anything other than the gesture of the raised middle finger "scratching" Obama's cheek. That gesture is one of a series, including the Jay-Z shoulder dust-off and the "got to scrape that sh*t right off your shoes" gesture, not to mention the Best of Reverend Wright "ridin' dirty" hand motion presented in the guise of a knife twist and quickly performed twice, with cheers from the crowd and smirks from Obama.
Obama bends over and does something right after the "Dirt off your shoulders" gesture, which I now understand is the "shit off your shoes" shout out to the Rolling Stones.
Man oh man, Barack is just so cool! Geez, he gave Hillary the finger - that has to nail down the Beavis and Butthead crowd. Hope and change or you can go, well, hope yourself.
Whatever - Will Smith gave Tommie Lee Jones the face-scratch finger in "Men In Black", and it didn't hurt his career. Of course, it was a movie. And it was obvious and funny, and meant to be obvious and funny and people laughed, just like they did in the Barack video. And later they got cool guns and blew things up, just like Barack will do if the Iranians attack Israel. 'Cause he's cool, too.
ERRATA: Waddya mean, my sentence saying Barack will blow things up if the Iranians attack Israel is a bit hazy as to just who he will blow up? Is there any doubt? Tom Coburn!
EAGERLY AWAITING: I am like a kid at Christmas (sorry, Barack, Ramadan) waiting for the "Geez, there goes the Freak Show again, all worked up about a little bit of disrespect among friends, and just when we were about resume our long march on the high road of problems and policies" postings from the usual suspects. Bring it on!
Personally, I think a debate about whether aspiring candidates should publicly give each other the finger will be fascinating. But folks who can't wait for "Is Obama's health care plan actually universal, Part CXXIV" would surely be disappointed.
MORE: The ChiTrib fingers the problem as well. It's a new kind of politics, all right. Let's move ahead of the curve here - when Barack apologizes/explains/rationalizes, we know he needs to provide a balancing sacrificial righty, a la Wright/granma and Ayers/Coburn. Dick Cheney has to be the favorite, right, even though his instructions to Pat Leahy were in the relative privacy of the Senate backrooms? Any others?
SWITCHING FROM BIER TO WHINE: Jiminy, no Matt Drudge yet (1 PM EST)? What kind of a sorry noise machine is this?
And Alison Dear - The context in which the audience was laughing at the exact moment The Messiah raised his middle finger while dissing Clinton? Since The Messiah was not speaking at that very moment, you think the audience had a collective mind-fart and just decided to - laugh?
O-kay.
Posted by: Enlightened | April 18, 2008 at 08:32 PM
Yeah, saw that one earlier, too. It's a bit fuzzy, and the screen shots don't show it all that Well, but it's better than the Balloon Juice picture. In frames two and three, he's clearly touching his face with his middle finger only, and the index finger is clearly bent. In the film, it's two separate motions. (By the way this is the second photo I meant to post earlier . . . also a bit fuzzy, but showing the finger pretty well). But the video is still the best bet.
Posted by: Cecil Turner | April 18, 2008 at 08:32 PM
So who are you going to believe, the ever helpful trolls or your own lying eyes?
Posted by: boris | April 18, 2008 at 08:43 PM
I agree with all of that, GMax. I had my initial doubts about Operation Chaos (can't take any credit having not managed to pull the trigger myself) but I would say so far, it has worked out splendidly. The latest piling-on of poor ABC by the prog "journalists" is just as tasty a tidbit as one could desire. No way in flipping hell would we have seen anything like this if Hilly had been put away in early March.
And I must say that Obama is fraying at the edges a lot faster than I thought he would. There will be the inevitable patching up with/by the media once he's the clear nominee, so we should enjoy this while we can.
Posted by: Porchlight | April 18, 2008 at 08:43 PM
Cecil,
I ran the picture through a programme and the index finger is bent,free of the face.The middle finger is actually making an indentation on Obama's face and is slightly bent back because of this.
Sorry to disappoint bidigital fans,but this was a solo unidigital effort.
Posted by: PeterUK | April 18, 2008 at 08:50 PM
He is obviously giving her the finger and once again the media ignores it. We can only point our middle fingers at the media for creating a situation now that will result in the Dems losing the White House, they have given Obama a pass on everything that would have sent any other candidate out of the race. Hey media guys, How much are you getting from the Republicans?
Posted by: Anee | April 18, 2008 at 11:36 PM
To all who care:
Senator Obama cannot be the Democratic nominee. This last crude, childish gesture has sealed his fate. I have contacted the superdelegates who are supporting him. I suggest you do the same.
Here is the link for Howard Dean for starters. He is the one we have to convince first.
http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/chairman
Posted by: Truth Seeker | April 18, 2008 at 11:55 PM
To all who care:
Senator Obama cannot be the Democratic nominee. This last crude, childish gesture has sealed his fate. I have contacted the superdelegates who are supporting him. I suggest you do the same.
Here is the link for Howard Dean for starters. He is the one we have to convince first.
http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/chairman
Posted by: Truth Seeker | April 18, 2008 at 11:59 PM
Sooo that's what ya think? really?...really??? and hey I've got a bridge to sell ya too LOL GET REAL and stop treating the people who take the time to read your blog like idiots. NO ONE short of a Clinton supporter would honestly think that Obama would put the last 16 months, his time and reputation and his integrity at stake just to give Clinton the finger when he is doing that already by kicking her tail in this election LOL so I ask you again..really? LOL Hope that works out for you.....(cudos here to Stewie who apparently has a better grasp of the public's inteligence)
Posted by: Deanna Foster Katy, Texas | April 19, 2008 at 12:21 AM
Sooo that's what ya think? really?...really???
What am I gonna believe? BHO's "reputation and integrity"? Or my lyin' eyes? Hey, no contest. And that interpretation is bolstered by his use of other gestures that are obviously meant to be interpreted (i.e., brushing shoulder and scraping shoes . . . though I must say that I really don't see that claimed "ridin' dirty" gesture as anything other than miming a knife) . . . and the crowd's interpretation.
GET REAL and stop treating the people who take the time to read your blog like idiots.
Y'know, I don't recall seein' ya'all 'round these parts afore now. So I'm thinkin' . . . that ya prolly just dropped by because of this here discussion about ol' Barack Hussein's finger . . . and that this is the only time you took the time to read this blog. So that line of reasoning ain't workin' all that well, either.
Couple of other cute videos of Barack "gettin' the dirt off" and "Baracky." And here's another funny one (a bit off-color).
Posted by: Cecil Turner | April 19, 2008 at 01:13 AM
At the very end of the "gettin' the dirt off" video that Cecil linked above, I notice that when Obama touches his face with his left hand he only uses one finger. The video quality isn't good but it appears to be his forefinger. I think it demonstrates that Obama, when using his right hand, was not using two-fingers or his middle finger alone to avoid a rude gesture.
Posted by: Elliott | April 19, 2008 at 01:35 AM
Gee, I thought living brain donors were an endangered species, but they seem to be multiplying like rabbits tonight.
Posted by: Larry | April 19, 2008 at 01:52 AM
Will there be "Baracky" sequels? Can I resist the temptation to subject my fellow JOMers to "Baracky Racoon?"
Posted by: Elliott | April 19, 2008 at 02:14 AM
I liked "Fingergate" it has that tolerably disgusting sound. Depending on where the finger goes.
Posted by: M. Simon | April 19, 2008 at 05:16 AM
WRITE DNC AND DEMAND OBAMA DROP OUT OF RACE!
democraticparty@democrats.org
OBAMAS AGAIN NAMED IN FEDERAL Rezko trial!
Obama needs to tell us more about his relationship with Ayers. It’s important because voters might well wonder whether that relationship, coupled with Obama’s longtime relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is the beginning of a pattern, a pattern in which Obama seems quite comfortable with people who really, really, really don’t like the United States of America.
FEDERAL COURT | The Obamas lied about attending bash for Iraqi crook Nadhmi Auchi. BY NATASHA KORECKI, CHRIS FUSCO AND TIM NOVAK
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was again drawn into Tony Rezko's corruption trial when the prosecution's star witness placed Obama at a party for an Iraqi-born billionaire who was barred entry to the United States. Stuart Levine testified under cross-examination that Obama and his wife, Michelle, attended the reception for Nadhmi Auchi.
An Obama connection court testimony have linked presidential hopeful Barack Obama with Iraqi-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi and Rezko. Obama met Middle Eastern bankers at the Four Seasons hotel in Chicago hosted by Rezko, who was courting potential investors for a 62-acre South Loop development. Auchi later took control of that project. Later Auchi attended a dinner party at Rezko's Wilmette mansion. Obama and his wife, Michelle, also were there, according to federal testimony at Rezko's corruption trial. The Obama campaign's responsed that Senator and Mrs. Obama have no recollection of attending the event.
Jan. 28, 2008 Rezko was jailed for withholding details of his finances -- including a $3.5 million payment from Auchi convicted of fraud in France in 2003. After visiting Chicago and Detroit in 2004, he wasn't allowed back into this country, according to a prosecution filing in the Rezko case gathering for Auchi took place at Rezko's mansion in Wilmette, with Mr. and Mrs. Obama there. Monday, Obama camp said Obama does not recall meeting Nadhmi Auchi but Obamas attended the Wilmette reception, which came less than a month after Obama's Democratic primary win for his U.S. Senate seat. Rezko had been a key fund-raiser for Obama with Auchi. Obamas relationship with Rezko who is accused of demanding kickbacks from people seeking Illinois government business is now under a federal microscope as he seeks the presidency. Obama particularly has drawn fire for buying property from Rezko's wife a strip of land adjacent to Obama's Kenwood home at a time when both Obamas knew Rezko was already known to be under federal investigation.
Gov. Blagojevich hosted a separate dinner party for Auchi two days earlier, at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Chicago, the Sun-Times has reported. Auchi was named by prosecutors in the January court filing that led to Rezko's bail being revoked and his being jailed. Last April, an Auchi company wired Rezko $3.5 million in connection with a valuable 62-acre South Loop site, which Rezko didn't disclose to authorities. Auchi's General Mediterranean Holding now controls the land at Roosevelt and Clark. Prosecutors said Rezko appealed to the State Department in November 2005 to allow Auchi to enter the United States, after Auchi was unable to do so.
Huffington Post-William Ayers, in the age of terrorism, is Obamas Willie Horton said
Former counterterrorism expert Larry Johnson,
There has been sudden information linking Obama to a former member of the radical Weathermen Underground group that claimed responsibility for a dozen bombings between 1970 and 1974. The former Weatherman, William Ayers, told the New York Times. I don't regret setting bombs...I feel we didn't do enough. Obama and Ayers were members of the board between 92-02. In addition, Ayers contributed to Obama's election to the Senate. They lived within a few blocks of each other in the trendy Hyde Park section of Chicago and moved in the same liberal-progressive circles. Larry Johnson, a former counterterrorism official at the CIA and the State Department, predicts Republicans would seize on the Ayers case, and again raises questions about Obama's judgment. WHERES MAINSTREAM MEDIA LIKE CNN & MSNBC WHY ARE THEY HIDING THIS MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION FROM VOTERS??
OBAMA WAS AWFUL IN THE DEBATE, we cannot risk our country on him! OUR TIME HAS COME FOR DEMOCRATS TO FULLY SUPPORT SENATOR CLINTON TO WIN IN NOV.
Hillary dominates Philadelphia we now know who won the debate according to our focus group. Senator Clinton is the debate winner, 23% believe Senator Obama won while 50% believed Senator Clinton won. Debate Analysis, 4/16/08
Posted by: DEMS WANT OBAM OUT NOW | April 19, 2008 at 07:53 AM
WRITE DNC AND DEMAND OBAMA DROP OUT OF RACE!
THE MEDIA LIKE AP-CNN AND MSNBC ARE SELLING OUT AMERICANS
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2008/04/05/ap-covers-obama-avoiding-churchs-pastors-essence
Associated Press Playing defense for Obama Karen Hawkins and Christopher Wills of the Associated Press quilty of Wright-wash, Hawkins and Wills avoid any mention of the Black Liberation Theology that forms foundation belief system of Trinity United Church. AP pair purposely avoided any mention of inflammatory items in weekly bulletin articles published by the Church.
Nowhere in the story was any mention of the Church's belief system, which was outlined by McClatchy's Margaret Tavel on Mar 20.
Obamas church pushes controversial doctrines. Jesus is black. Merging Marxism with Christian Gospel may show the way to a better tomorrow. The white church in America is the Antichrist because it supported slavery and segregation. Those are some doctrines that animate the theology at the core of Obamas church.
Wright said basis for Trinitys philosophies the work of James Cone, founder black liberation theology movement out of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s. Particularly influential was Cones book, Black Theology & Black Power. Cone wrote that the U.S. was a white racist nation and the white church was the Antichrist for having supported slavery and segregation.
TCC’S Pastors Page section, the Rev. Wright gave two pages to Hamas TERRORIST MOUSA ABU MARZOOK. The column originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times, which came under heavy criticism for running it. Among Marzook's many whoppers: A number of political parties today control blocs in the Israeli Knesset, while advocating for the expulsion of Arab citizens from Israel and the rest of Palestine, envisioning a single Jewish state from the Jordan to the sea. CAMERA.org wrote at the time that "that no Israeli parties in government advocate the 'expulsion' of Arabs; one calls for voluntary transfer."
TCC Pastor's Page section, written by TERRORIST SYMPATHIZER AIL BAGHDADI. Among other things, Baghdadi wrote I must tell you that Israel was the closest ally to the White Supremacists of South Africa. In fact, South Africa allowed Israel to test its nuclear weapons in the ocean off South Africa. The Israelis were given a blank check: they could test whenever they desired and did not even have to ask permission. Both worked on an ethnic bomb that kills Blacks and Arabs. The KKK, on its worst day, never accused the ethnic groups it hated of attempting to concoct a "white bomb. Rev. Wright not only allowed these hate-filled diatribes to appear in TUCCs bulletins but supports as does Obama.
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden would be praying for an Obama victory because it would help the militants win in Iraq. Article by Citizen Wells 3/08,
Obama has a dual citizenship with Kenya. Obama is an anti-Israel, pro-pan-Arabian Islamic-socialist who has ties to Marxist Libyan President Muamar al Gadaffi, and a Syrian tycoon, Antoin Rezko, Saudi Arabian Scheiks and Rezko's "close friend" Nadhami Auchi, the one who gave Obama fundraiser money (and helped to buy his mansion): Iraqi billionaire, global arms dealer, Nadhmi Auchi, was Baathist best friends with Saddam Hussein, and the main financial backer (from funds stolen from Oil for Food Program0 for Saddam's - Iraqi -Saudi oil pipeline, and who stood trial with Saddam Hussein in 1959 for conspiring to assassinate Iraqi President Qasim.
Also marxist Nicaragian President Daniel Ortega is on the front line supporting Obama for the revolution of changes and then there is hard core anti-Israel, pro-Palestine PLO Enforcer Rashid Khalid, (Obama was on Kalidi's Woods Fund. Obama was a memb er of the Woods Fund with communist domestic terrorist Bill Ayers of the Weather Underground who bombed the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol among other things and their organization raised money for anti-Israel programs, and also AAAN, for Arabs and then there is especially Kenya - where in August 2007, Obama went to Kenya to support his E. Germany communist educated cousin Raila Odinga for Kenyan Presidential election, who claims coincidentally to also be a Christian who signed NAMLEF and other pacts wutg radical muslims who set churches filled with Christians on fire, and macheted them in the streets, causing a political and religious mini-civil war over the MUO.
all of Obama's mentors, buddies, political affiliations, organizational memberships and all of his hard core militant muslim family members, like his brother Abongo (Roy" Odinga who hates America, and their communist grandfather who ran with Russia and hated America, not to mention his socialist connection to his profound childhood mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, a member of the Communist Party, CPUSA, and Obama's endorsement by the Black Panthers. Obama titled his book "Audacity of Hope," after Pastor Wright's sermon about the need to destroy capitalism and the middle-class at the hands of the rich white people and the west.
Posted by: DEMS WANT OBAM OUT NOW | April 19, 2008 at 07:55 AM
I think that his conduct is of a piece--He ignores his mother, focusing on his wonderful dad who abandoned him; he seems in his memoir to have good feelings about his leftist layabout grandfather and his father's family in Africa who did nothing for him and threw his grandmother who supported him under the bus, and now he makes these juvenile hip hoppy gestures against his female opponent. Looks to me like a street punk, unsure of his masculinity who has to take shots at women whenever he can.
(Let that be a lesson to women everywhere who think marrying third world philanderers is a keen idea and studying blacksmithing culture in Indonesia instead of raising their children is a viable choice .)
Posted by: clarice | April 19, 2008 at 07:57 AM
Deanne must be quite a sight,Laughing Out Loud alone at her computer.Is this Barack Hussein Obama's constituency.
Posted by: PeterUK | April 19, 2008 at 08:07 AM
Clarice,
Barack Hussein Obama is one of that neotenic generation born of the sixties who sees everything through the prism of popular culture.To wit,another Anthony Charles Lynton Bliar who will fill the Oval office with mummers and jongleurs turning your nation into a circus.
Hopefully he and Hillary will go over the Reichenbach falls together.
Posted by: PeterUK | April 19, 2008 at 08:20 AM
Referring back to another thread.
Rhodium Heart in a comment at Classical Values looks at the Truman election of '48 and sees parallels to this election. Very interesting.
I think John McCain has a similar strategy.
Posted by: M. Simon | April 19, 2008 at 08:28 AM
Obama again shows that his inexperience only creates disdain. He is a divider, he has his own side and his actions, associations and statements clearly demonstrate this fact!
Posted by: aclusux.com | April 19, 2008 at 09:05 AM
Obama again shows that his inexperience only creates disdain. He is a divider, he has his own side and his actions, associations and statements clearly demonstrate this fact!
Posted by: aclusux.com | April 19, 2008 at 09:06 AM
BHO's gesture is NOT a reference to Jay-Z!! It's an old folktale
--"dust the dirt off your shoulders" does not originate with Jay-Z--nor is it goateed hipster irony..... It's an old folktale (so much for culutural literacy ...)
The idea dates back to an story about a donkey who is being buried alive in a well by a mean farmer..... Eventually the donkey realizes that if he just shakes "the dirt off his shoulders" he can keep stepping on the dirt and eventually he will be lifted out of the well.
Props to http://blog.szczawinski.com/... for noticing this... see also
http://shadym.blogspot.com/...
http://www.hollyspringsfarm.com/...
Not everything is about the young people.....
Posted by: cathyk | April 19, 2008 at 09:30 AM
The link to Dean, for GET OBAMA OUT OF THE RACE NOW, is great because you can create a link for your friends and family to contact him too.
Obama-bots are going to believe what they want to believe no matter what, however the rest of us, the ones who haven't drunk the kool-aid yet are going to lead the party out of this mess before its too late and we've lost the best chance to get a Dem in the White House.
Posted by: Anee | April 19, 2008 at 01:36 PM
Don,
We are always interested in what the 11% think. Thanks for giving us a clue.
Posted by: M. Simon | April 19, 2008 at 06:32 PM