The St. Pete Times’ political blog reports Michael Spooneybarger inadvertently had Pres. Bush pick up his bag during a recent trip to South Florida.
Tampa Tribune photographer Michael Spooneybarger was a little frantic to get his camera bag as media were hurried out of an auditorium at MacDill Air Force Base Tuesday after a speech by President Bush.
Spooneybarger later said he turned to some guy in a suit thinking he might help. That’s when the photographer asked the president himself to hand him his bag. Spooneybarger swore he didn’t realize he was asking Bush. He said he thought maybe it was a Secret Service agent, or maybe some other nattily dressed individual.
Bush didn’t comply, but instead jokingly made a shooing motion with his arms to get media out of the room. The crowd broke out in laughter. A contrite Spooneybarger later got his bag without the president’s help.
Spooneybarger was an award-winning photographer with the daily. He left the PNJ in either 2003 or 2004 for the Tampa Tribune.