# Bush holding a Talmud **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 18, 2006, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067 "2006-02-18T08:48:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GuloGulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@GuloGulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuloGulo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/1 "2006-02-18T08:48:02Z")
[![](https://www.texemarrs.com/images/bush_with_talmud.jpg) ](https://www.texemarrs.com/images/bush_with_talmud.jpg) Is this picture real? ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/2 "2006-02-18T08:53:35Z")
The guy admits to not reading newspapers and can hardly follow a teleprompter… what do you think? ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/3 "2006-02-18T08:57:01Z")
> [@GuloGulo](#): > > [http://www.texemarrs.com/images/bush\_with\_talmud.jpg](http://www.texemarrs.com/images/bush_with_talmud.jpg) > > Is this picture real? There does seem to be a difference between the focus of the Talmud & that of W, but what if it is? Heck, I’m a devout C’tian but it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to get a pic of me with the Necronomicon or The Satanic Bible. Yeah, I know that Texe Marrs has become rabidly anti-Jewish so he does see sinister significance to a Talmud-toting Bush. ---
**Author:** ![GuloGulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@GuloGulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuloGulo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/4 "2006-02-18T09:26:44Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > There does seem to be a difference between the focus of the Talmud & that of W, but what if it is? Heck, I’m a devout C’tian but it wouldn’t take a lot of effort to get a pic of me with the Necronomicon or The Satanic Bible. > > Yeah, I know that Texe Marrs has become rabidly anti-Jewish so he does see sinister significance to a Talmud-toting Bush. What I find strange is the amount of highly regarded university professors or ex-professors that are becoming raving conspiracy theorists and anti-semites. Henry Makow, a jew, is a particularly intersting case. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/5 "2006-02-18T12:53:39Z")
I saw what was probably the same pic photoshopped to make it look like he was carrying "Presidentin’ For Dummies’. They’re probably both from one of the many photoshop contests from the web, like on Fark. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/6 "2006-02-18T20:42:55Z")
> [@GuloGulo](#): > > [http://www.texemarrs.com/images/bush\_with\_talmud.jpg](http://www.texemarrs.com/images/bush_with_talmud.jpg) > > Is this picture real? Take a look at the home page of that site and tell me if you’d believe _anything_ they posted. I looked at [the “dummies” picture](http://puffin.creighton.edu/phil/Stephens/jpeg%20images/bush_book.jpg) that **Revtim** referred to, and they’re clearly taken from the same source. In the Talmud picture, notice how the spine of the book is torqued and there are pages that seem to have been inserted in the book, sticking up? In the “dummies” picture, the book cover has been Photoshopped over what appears to be a three-ring binder with some loose pages sticking out–in the same position as the inserted pages in the Talmud picture. I think somebody snapped a pic of Bush with a briefing binder, and that’s what’s being modified. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/7 "2006-02-18T20:44:35Z")
The similarities in the pictures are clearer if you look at[this version](http://judicial-inc.biz/Israel22.jpg) of the Talmud pic. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/8 "2006-02-18T21:14:51Z")
This picture is on the [Shmais website](http://www.shmais.com/picofdayall.cfm) a Lubavitcher organization. Picture… [http://www.shmais.com/images/largepics/left\_517.jpg](http://www.shmais.com/images/largepics/left_517.jpg) It looks legitimate. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/9 "2006-02-18T23:15:01Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > This picture is on the [Shmais website](http://www.shmais.com/picofdayall.cfm) a Lubavitcher organization. > > Picture… [http://www.shmais.com/images/largepics/left\_517.jpg](http://www.shmais.com/images/largepics/left_517.jpg) > > It looks legitimate. ??? Did you notice the caption on the page of links that said “PURIM SPOOF” or the caption on the photo (in yellow, absent from the other links on the web) that said “DAF YOMI: EVERYBODY’S DOING THE DAF”? I suspect that the Lubavitcher’s recognized that it was intended as humor. (_Daf Yomi_ is a program of reading selections from the bible, each day, in a way that will allow one to read the entire bible in a prayerful manner. Since the Talmud is not the Tanakh/bible, the flip expression “Everybody’s doing the Daf” is pretty certainly a joke.) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/10 "2006-02-18T23:30:13Z")
> [@Seven](#): > > The guy admits to not reading newspapers and can hardly follow a teleprompter… what do you think? Stupid response in GQ. If you can help answer the question, do so. When come back, bring answers. **samclem** GQ moderator ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/11 "2006-02-19T00:11:52Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Picture… [http://www.shmais.com/images/largepics/left\_517.jpg](http://www.shmais.com/images/largepics/left_517.jpg) > > It looks legitimate. You need to read the previous posts. Everything we said about the OP’s picture applies just as well to yours. In post #3, **FriarTed** pointed out the difference in focus. Look at Bush’s collar and the writing on the cover of the Talmud. In my prior post, I pointed out several things about that picture and the “dummies” picture that **Revtim** found. Load your picture in a photo editing program and zoom in on the hand holding the book. See the white pixels along the forefinger from the original notebook cover? See how the thumb was chopped off with a horizontal line at the top of the nail? It’s a composite picture. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/12 "2006-02-19T01:46:34Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Stupid response in GQ. If you can help answer the question, do so. When come back, bring answers. > > **samclem** GQ moderator Ok. On the off chance George forgot his wedding ring that day, Bush combs his hair from left to right. In the picture it is the other way. Good enough? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-holding-a-talmud/345067/13 "2006-02-20T21:52:13Z")
> [@Seven](#): > > On the off chance George forgot his wedding ring that day, Bush combs his hair from left to right. In the picture it is the other way. See the discussion above about the “Dummies” picture. It’s flipped horizontally, which explains both of those anomalies.