According to this post, there were no snubs going on. I’ll have to watch the video later though.
No they’re not.
From memory the representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Germany and Japan were not Heads of State.
Yeah no story here. As the video makes clear Bush had already shaken everyone’s hands so he didn’t do it again.
I can’t help thinking of an episode of Monk. Monk of course has to wipe off after every hand shake (OCD). In one ep, he’s shaking a bunch of hands and he can’t get ahold of a wipe from his nurse, Sharona, until after he’s shaken the last guy’s hand…a black guy. Hilarity ensues.
‘When you wish upon a star…’
Go home folks…nothing to see here.
-XT
Who the fuck is that idiot reporter? Is this the level of journalism we’re accepting from CNN now?
This is utter bullshit. I’m getting sick of people sticking their thumb on their nose at Bush, but it’s bad enough coming from people who aren’t cable news anchors. The guy’s unpopular. We get it already! People have snubbed or spoken out against Bush for at least 6 years, so the spiel about “we’re not afraid of the bully anymore!” is painfully, embarrassingly obvious nonsense. How can anyone take CNN seriously?
I’d buy that, except everyone else seemed to be shaking everyone else’s hand, and presumably some of them had previously shaken hands, too. [I know the video **Strainger** has a statement from the Deputy Press Secretary that says something to the effect that Bush was the only one who had met everyone else that morning, but (a) that doesn’t pass the smell test and (b) I’m not about to give this WH’s press secretary the benefit of any doubt].
Even if the man had already greeted everyone in the impromptu receiving line, he should have had the brain to realize that, by being the only one NOT to shake hands, he would be made to look a fool. After all, isn’t the Law of Unintended Consequences one of the Republicans’ favorite rules? The unintended consequence here is that he was made to look either like a snubber or a snubbee, and he invited it upon himself.
I was watching a show on (IIRC) Discovery a few weeks ago on body language. One of the examples they used on body language was none other than our favorite President. It was sort of an eye opener…especially as a veteran of this board where GW is pretty much universally held in contempt as an idiot. What they were saying in the show though is that Bush is not nearly as unsophisticated and stupid as is commonly believed…in fact, he is apparently one of the masters of political body language, able to turn even his moments of stupidity to his advantage. They contrast Bush with Clinton as far as the body language thing (with Obama too) and it would probably surprise many here that both Clinton and Obama came out second best body language wise…as did a lot of world leaders. Of course, this says nothing much about his actual ability to be a President…it was still interesting however.
One of the things they talked about was the art of the handshake and they showed how politicians jockey for position as far as the handshake goes. No way would any world leader snub a sitting American President this way…nor would an American President do the converse. What they would ACTUALLY do is jockey for who was in the dominant position for the shake…i.e. who had they hand over the other guys hand in front of the camera. I guess I never realized how important it is until I saw this show and how politicians attempt to maneuver other politicians into being in a submissive position. It was funny…they showed a press conference with Putin where he deliberately set up the cameras so that anyone coming to shake his hand would HAVE to be in a submissive position or they would look silly. Most of the heads of state shaking his hand at this event had no choice…only (IIRC) Tony Blair and GW were able to almost instinctively come up with a way around it (in a matter of seconds).
It gives you insight into how these folk think though…which is a long winded way of just saying again that the OP is complete bullshit. The only one though that doesn’t seem to get that is gonzo though so…
-XT
Nope. Watch the video again. They don’t all shake hands with each other.
CNN has reported on their own error.
Some people need to be more skeptical of odd new stories that just happen to reinforce their own biases.
Nor did I say they did. I said it seemed that way. It’s very poor image management by Dubya, and his perception as either snubber or snubbee is entirely his own fault.
That’s not quite what you said. But how could it seem that way, if it actually wasn’t that way, and could clearly be seen that it wasn’t?
No. All they were doing was lining up for a group photo. Is he supposed to shake everyone’s hand every time he walks by them? It was very bad reporting by CNN, and if FOX had done this to Obama there would be a 5 page PIT thread active now.
Shaking hands with Bush would not have been hard to do. Whether he had shaken hands earlier or not is irrelevant. They could have stuck their mitts out . When you are at a photo op ,you might shake hands several times.Every camera man wants a picture. You just keep doing it.
What’s interesting about that clip (aside from the fact that gonzo is apparently incapable of watching it) is that in every one of those handshakes Bush was the submissive person…each of the people shaking his hand had the dominant position. I wonder if that was arranged before hand and if Bush went along with it.
-XT
Er, yes I did. It’s right up there in post 27. Here, I’ll quote it for you, and add some emphasis this time:
Clearer?
Are you seriously asking how something can seem to be one way, even if it isn’t actually that way?
Well, no, not every time he walks by someone. But if nearly everyone around him starts to shake hands, he most certainly should realize that he’s going to stand out, especially as he’s the President of the United States and not the Undersecretary for the Office of Whogivesafuck of East Nowherestan.
It looked like a snub to me (although I can’t decide who is being snubbed, Bush or the others. I’d give the nod to Bush, as he looks to be especially interested in his feet during the clip). He, inarguably the most powerful man in the room, was one of the few – if not the only one – who didn’t shake anyone else’s hand in that clip. The rationale that he shook their hands before doesn’t even matter, because the group photo developed into an impromptu meet-and-greet and he deigned not to participate.
Suppose a little boy begging for money managed to sneak in, and all the potentates except for Bush dropped some change into his cup. Would Bush’s protests that he has already given his money to charity for the year hold up, or would he look stingy? If the man were at a performance, applauded for the singer at the end of the set, but then sat in his chair after the encore while everyone else applauded again, would his excuse that he’s already applauded matter?
Bottom line: if everyone else is doing something nice – shaking hands, giving change, or applauding – go along with the crowd, because if you don’t, you’re going to stand out as a fool.
No.
Watch the link I gave to the real story, and then get back to us.
Cite?
From the first I saw it I didn’t take it as a snub–that’s an absolutely silly idea. These people are uber-diplomats and such a coordinated effort to break protocol (a coordinated effort between the top members of varying and competing states no less) would be Herculean. It sure did look funny though.
I’m not quite buying the “he just shook hands” explanation. As mentioned up-thread, it was a photo op, and whether you just shook someones hand or not means nothing to the cameraman. Hitting the Daily Show’s take on it again, look at the imposed pomp of Bush coming out to greet each one at the beginning of the conference.
I think (though this is just as much speculation as “he just shook hands”) he pulled something of an Obama-pledge moment. I’m not completely up on that piece of non-news, but wasn’t Obama caught off-guard at a meeting/event and forgot/didn’t realize everyone else was putting their hands on their chests? Something similar happened either all the way throughout he line (Bush was so ensconsed in his own little world that he didn’t notice that he was the odd man out) or right at the beginning, and Bush realized that if he recovered and started shaking hands, the headline would read “Bush Snubbs Leader of Spain!”.
I would happily drive Bush to his deeply deserved war crimes trial in the Hague. Sick of that kind of stuff? Deal. The guy is lowest scum ever to hold the Presidency. Peeing on him would be an insult to my urine.
Or fills it with explosives and drops it on one of your cities.
If he got a war crimes trial, THAT would be news. He didn’t shake hands with some people because he had already greeted them previously, which is not news. I don’t care how much anyone hates Bush; it’s irresponsible journalism to report bullshit like that. He practically snarled through the whole thing! A fucking news reporter leered and taunted and called someone names on a nationally televised news program. Are you seriously OK with that?