Photographer leaks Bush potty pleaMARK TOORSeptember 16, 2005President George W. Bush apparently had his mind on something more earthy than diplomacy during his visit Wednesday to the United Nations.A picture shot with a zoom lens by Reuters photographer Rick Wilking shows Bush printing a note saying: "I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible. W.""Rick had no idea what he was shooting, or what Bush was writing," Reuters picture editor Gary Hershorn told Editor & Publisher magazine. Hershorn said he did not know what the note said until he enlarged the picture during editing.Bush may simply have been asking Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the proper protocol for being excused, Hershorn told the Photo District News Web site."There was no malicious intent" in distributing the photo, he said.But it was fodder for many less than complimentary references in foreign newspapers and political and satirical blogs."Excuse me Condi, can I go to the bathroom?" read a headline on the Times of London web site."How about that punctuation? Is he unsure whether or not he has to go potty?" read a comment on liberalpenpal.com.The Canadian Web site Chortler made up an addition to the note: "Make that an extended bathroom break, say about three years or so, until my second term as president is over."Bush did indeed take a bathroom break, Reuters reported."It happens to the best of us," Margo McDonald, a member of Scotland\'s parliament, told the newspaper The Scotsman.
