The Bush flight suit story and pix had been around blogs for weeks before Richard Goldstein surfaced it in VV. “AllHatNoCattle” was early, with lot of links:
http://www.allhatnocattle.net/5-12-03-bush-sock-flight-suit.htm
Of course I like my version best:
http://BetsyDevine.weblogger.com/2003/05/16#a178 aka
http://betsydevine.com/blog/2003/05/16/but-karl-you-told-me-to-stick-a-sock-in-it/
Several people have said that flight suits just plain do this–Google image searches didn’t turn up even one similar photo. Flight suits without those crotch straps make guys look like eunuchs…you check it out, you know how to google. It’s hard to believe the hyperactive image consultants described in the NYT article
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/politics/16IMAG.html?ex=1054094400&en=a1fcc8877e3f54ec&ei=5070
didn’t finetune the fit of that flight suit before letting Bush be photographed in it. Like you, I doubt that fine-tuning was as low-tech as “shoving a sock down the commander in chief’s tightie-whities.” That couldn’t be it–preppie Yalies wear boxer shorts.