Posted on 07/19/2006 2:18:19 PM PDT by pissant
It's not exactly "Presidents Gone Wild!" but for the normally staid Group of Eight Summit, a video of President George W. Bush sidling behind German Chancellor Angela Merkel and delivering an impromptu neck rub is, well, as wild as it gets.
The scene, captured by a Russian TV camera, hit the Internet like a summer wildfire Tuesday, and it may be most memorable for the German chancellor's reaction. Bush applies his hands to Merkel's shoulders and neck while she's speaking with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi; the chancellor hunches her shoulders, then throws her hands up to stop the unexpected massage with a wan smile -- and an expression which can best be translated as "Ewwww."
While the incident didn't get a lot of play on major TV media, it was just one of the Bush G-8 gaffes that garnered considerable space in the blogosphere from London to Los Angeles.
Bloggers on sites like truthdig.com expounded at length on the U.S. president's now-famed open mike incident in which Bush let slip the "s-word" while talking with British Prime Minister Tony Blair; it wasn't so much the potty mouth as the president speaking with his mouth full that horrified many international critics.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
However, I work with some very professional and otherwise well mannered people who think nothing of giving a fellow employee a brief shoulder massage now and then.
Especially if one is tense or has a sore neck etc.
They just think nothing of it.
So even though I'm not personally very comfortable with this sort of thing I'm not about to criticize those who are, especially when it is simply a kind gesture.
Besides, people pay perfect strangers to give them massages all the time and it's considered a luxury.
ANY excuse to Bash....
not at all. there are PLENTY of legit areas to criticize. the nitpicking is just silly. THIS is nitpicking.
Even if he did massage her shoulders a bit, it was simply a kind gesture.
I've also been in professional settings where this is not considered inappropriate.
I never said it was a big deal. I just said it was inappropriate. We can agree to disagree, but that doesn't make me a basher or you a bot, now does it?
If you believe this is ALWAYS wrong, then you're more a slave to feminist-think and political correctness than you realize.
So I don't sense any hypocrisy.
Still, I wish he hadn't done it.
Whether I think it's wrong or not is irrelevant if I get fired for it.
i can live with that.
What can be said except : another "tempete dans un verre d'eau" (tempest in a glass of water)...
What's the big deal? It's not like he lifted up her shirt and kissed her belly.
We don't know that. Why won't they release the missing frames?
-if clinton touches me I would scream.....if Bush touched me I would swoon......(sigh).......Clinton's track record is clear....he is a serial molester.....Bush's is clear as well....he is a gentleman. I would have been thrilled to get a shoulder rub from Bush.
I'm still waiting for the footage of the President dancing naked on tables during college!
With BJ Clinton you'd never know where his hands had been.
Looks like she's trying to get him off of her.
What is wrong our guy -- is he cracking up?
"Just about every company's sexual harrassment policy would cover that behavior."
Yep, Bush would be toast if he were a corporate or government agency peon.
Somehow that doesn't do anything for me...
Does the writer mean like Billy Jeff who couldn't make a decision unless he had his toelicker do a poll in how the people felt about a particular situation. Billy Jeff was never a leader. President Bush is a true leader
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