February 7, 2001

9:16 AM

Man takes pot shots at Bush. It begins. I've heard lots of people joking about this. It looks like someone took it seriously, if incompetently. Is that old Indian curse true?
posted by captaincursor (27 comments total)

This wasn't a double post when I posted it. That'll show me to take the time to spell check my work.
posted by captaincursor at 9:17 AM on February 7, 2001

(waving to taylor!!)
posted by maura at 9:19 AM on February 7, 2001

Looks like he was attempting suicide by Secret Service.

What astonishes me is that there are still cops who on seeing an armed man will actually say "Drop the weapon! It doesn't have to end this way!" and when he aims at them will fire a disabling shot. Lately it's seemed like moving your hand quickly near a cop was a death sentence.
posted by dhartung at 9:28 AM on February 7, 2001

Been there, done tha . . .

Oh, wait, never mind. That was the Onion, and this is for real. I get them so confused sometimes. Ever since Bush or Gore: 'A New Era Dawns' appeared the day after the election, I've been more than a little disturbed by the Onion's gifts of prophecy.
posted by grimmelm at 9:30 AM on February 7, 2001

Weird timing - reading this after reviewing today's Onion.
posted by fuzzynavel at 9:41 AM on February 7, 2001

Almost simultaneous post with fullerine in other thread. Yikes!
posted by fuzzynavel at 9:44 AM on February 7, 2001

My first thought was "suicide by cop" too. The Secret Service recently began a policy of displaying their guns at all the security points around the White House.
posted by rcade at 9:45 AM on February 7, 2001

fuzzynavel: almost simultaneous double post Ack!
posted by fullerine at 9:50 AM on February 7, 2001

Could that be the sort of voting machine some people might turn to when the normal machines don't work?
posted by pracowity at 9:56 AM on February 7, 2001

If written potshots get the same treatment, a lot of MetaFilterites (and I include myself) are in deep shit.
posted by harmful at 10:25 AM on February 7, 2001

Evidence of Bush using defenseless children as human shielding during the tax talk... perhaps he knew the guy was lurking... ;)
posted by salsamander at 10:43 AM on February 7, 2001

What's freaky is that this guy's lived on Tyler Ave. in Evansville, IN. That's right off of "Indian Trl" and less than 1/2 a mile from "Tecumseh Lane." Coincidence? I THINK NOT! ;)

Heh.
posted by bkdelong at 10:44 AM on February 7, 2001

Where does it say he took potshots at Bush? It says he jumped INTO a bush, but not that he actually shot at The President.

This is how rumors get started...

"Did you hear that surfer kid pulled a knife on Mr. Hand?"


posted by bondcliff at 11:00 AM on February 7, 2001

Is it just me, or does that photo look badly photoshopped?
posted by jplummer at 11:02 AM on February 7, 2001

Today just seems to be my day.
posted by DoublePostGuy at 11:07 AM on February 7, 2001

Is this his Amazon wish list?
posted by MrMoonPie at 11:20 AM on February 7, 2001

jplummer: the one with the kids? Yes, it does.
posted by crushed at 1:02 PM on February 7, 2001

What's really strange is that, according to Ari Fleischer, the "president" was "exercising" in the residence at 11:30 a.m., and so was never in any danger. I really have to wonder how hard it is to be president now...
posted by rschram at 2:30 PM on February 7, 2001

Moonpie, Rolling Prairie is at the wrong end of Indiana. So, not him, despite the paranoia politix.

DeLong almost has a point. Indiana was Tecumseh's old stomping grounds. The big battle (with a force led by then-Gov. William Henry Harrison) was up at Lafayette, though. If he'd been from there ... brrrr. As it is, he practically lived on the same river. And he lived on Tyler?! Must blog.
posted by dhartung at 2:48 PM on February 7, 2001

rscram: The president was also on official business late in a meeting with Canada's PM monday night. I don't think the presidancy's a 9-5 job, so if he wants to pump some iron, take a nap, or read a book on his lunch break, give him that at least.
posted by cCranium at 3:04 PM on February 7, 2001

" . . . read a book"?

No, no, cC, this is President Bush we're talking about.
posted by Skot at 3:15 PM on February 7, 2001

I think he meant to say "color a book" instead. That's what we used to do after our nappytime.
posted by ritualdevice at 3:44 PM on February 7, 2001

> I think he meant to say "color a book" instead.

Ha!
posted by pracowity at 11:46 PM on February 7, 2001

I was actually going to say "read Yurtle the Turtle" but I figured there was no point in turning this into yet another Bush-bashing thread.
posted by cCranium at 6:50 AM on February 8, 2001

Just want to chime in to say that the Agent(s) who handled this situation did an amazing job. By having cool heads and being slow on the trigger, they averted loss of life, and hopefully this guy will get the help that he was obviously crying out for.

Now that we know a little more about the shooter, it is apparent that he was a depressed man who felt that he had been done an injustice by his former employer (The IRS). He planned to commit suicide in a high profile manner, in order to make some kind of a statement to those that he felt were responsible.

I hope they treat him with a bit of compassion, rather than throwing the federal "asassination attempt" book at him.
posted by Optamystic at 7:18 AM on February 8, 2001

Do you have something against Yertle the Turtle, cCranium?
posted by sonofsamiam at 7:35 AM on February 8, 2001

sonofsamiam: Except for an inability to properly spell his name, no. It was an insult against Bush, not against Geisel.
posted by cCranium at 8:11 AM on February 8, 2001