MSNBC Poll: "Are people making too much of" Bush's Merkel grope...

[Human Torch]

Are people making too much of President Bush's back rub for Chancellor Merkel?

5593 responses

Yes. Let's keep it in perspective. It was really nothing, a friendly impromptu gesture that's not nearly the big deal people think it is. Putin's tummy kiss was weirder by far. 31%

No. Earth to President Bush: There's maybe no bigger red flag in the world. You don't spontaneously massage the shoulders of a woman who's not your wife. 69%



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13961788/?displaymode=1006

[babylonsister]

1. No. Earth to President Bush!!! nt

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. done

he's such an embarrassment. again. :(

[Mythsaje]

3. Putin's belly kiss WAS weirder by far...

But it was still an ill-conceived act on the part of the evil Shrubbery.

[Human Torch]

7. MSNBC compared apples and oranges...

...I'm not even going to pretend to understand what Putin was thinking. I don't want to know...just like I don't want to hear Michael Jackson talk about the highest form of love being a grown man sharing his bed with a little boy. I don't want to know.

But Bush? It's the same thing that made him deliver his "playful slap" today at the NAACP, the same thing that makes him give condescending nicknames to everyone, the same thing that put a drunken, substance-abusing AWOL Oedipal frat boy in the White House...TWICE.

He gets away with shit.

That's it, plain and simple. He always gets away with it so his powers of discretion are non-existent.

:patriot:

[longship]

8. The little kid was *NOT* a leader of a country.

Chimp has no sense of protocol. That's the reason why this country is in such trouble these days. Chimp doesn't understand limits or boundaries.

[kath]

15. "Putin's belly kiss"?!?! How'd I miss THAT one? Linky?

[Mythsaje]

16. Oh, god... I don't have a link...

Mark my words, it was indeed strange. He pulled up some little kid's shirt to kiss his belly.

[kath]

17. Thanks! So has Putin entered into some kind of contest with Chimpyshit

as to who's the weirdest world leader?? Seems like Chimpyshit has a HUGE headstart on this, though...

[Mythsaje]

18. It's a new Arms race! Run for your lives!

Heck if I know what Putin was thinking. Too much vodka?

[kittenpants]

31. LOL the weirdness is escalating n/t

[JNelson6563]

32. link to video

http://wonkette.com/politics/clips/the-putin-kiss-caught-on-tape-185613.php

[Stardust]

20. I thought the belly kiss was sweet. A very honest and caring moment.

[Ian David]

4. She should hire Paula Jones' lawyer and sue Bush. n/t

[rodeodance]

5. 5828 responses 70% NO

Are people making too much of President Bush's back rub for Chancellor Merkel? * 5828 responses
Yes. Let's keep it in perspective. It was really nothing, a friendly impromptu gesture that's not nearly the big deal people think it is. Putin's tummy kiss was weirder by far.
30%
No. Earth to President Bush: There's maybe no bigger red flag in the world. You don't spontaneously massage the shoulders of a woman who's not your wife.
70%
Not a scientific survey. Click to learn more. Results may not total 100% due to rounding.

[Lifelong Protester]

6. voted!

Now 70% NO, 30% YES.

About Bush's approval or credibility ratings by now, eh? 30% might be high though...:freak:

[Journeyman]

9. It's not that she's a woman, she's the Chancellor of Germany. . .

over and above ALL ELSE in that room, Angela Merkel was the representative of a great nation, and diplomatic protocol dictated she be treated with the respect due her office. What President Bush did was an inexcusable slight to the dignity and bearing of the German nation.

[Robeson]

19. Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!.....

...I'd be redundant to repeat what you said. Couldn't have said it better!

[City Lights]

27. True, but the only reason he did it was because she's female.

It was inappropriate, period, but the reason he did it to the German Chancellor was because the German Chancellor is a woman. He wouldn't have done it to the German Chancellor if the Chancellor was male.

It's all about his attitude toward women. He kisses Condi when he greets her at public events. He kissed Harriet Miers at a public event. He kisses women and shakes hands with men. That's fucked up.

[leesa]

10. Why do they keep calling it a massage? He pinched her neck.

[flowomo]

11. screw the poll..... junk as always.... the REALLY good thing....

is that this issue has taken on some life. That's great.

[BrewAz]

12. I do not think it is possible to make too much of it...

The behavior Bush exhibited and the "unsolicited touching" of a person of the opposite sex has always been an issue, whether in government or business. The "unsolicited" part...makes it an assault. The opposite sex part makes it sexual harassment.

I retired from the Navy Reserve in 1994 and I saw UCMJ and CM for less overt actions against female members of the military. While in business, I had management peers who lost their jobs for less...no touching just suggestive talk.

It is not only an embarrassment that our president acts this way...but should be considered morally reprehensible personal conduct.

I do not understand why more is not made about this...I do not understand why Chancellor Merkel does not demand an apology.

Why is this treated so lightly? Is it because we have a "frat rat" for a president..and boys will be boys? Maybe at a kegger you can get away with this...but at the G8 conference when the world is in turmoil?

Something is very wrong here....

BrewAz

[Tarheel_Dem]

14. Welcome BrewAz....

and, I couldn't agree more. Can you imagine the headlines & lead stories if it had been Clinton?
:hi:

[calimary]

21. It was quite inappropriate. There was no place at this important

international gathering of purported "grown ups" for frat house crap or touchie-feelie activities better suited to a teenage girl's sleepover party. This is a conference of multiple HEADS OF STATE, for cryingoutloud!

Besides this, did he render such "treatment" to everybody around the table, or single out the "little woman" in the group. It felt, to me, like another attempt to project a power-play or superior position - he giving, she receiving. It was an unspoken gesture to assert his own primacy and superiority. She didn't look as though she appreciated it - "Okay, yeah, fine, thank you, I get it, young man. You've had your fun. Now run along."

It was inappropriate. In this setting, especially. And considering how it was subtly demeaning to Madame Chancellor, and the wrong place to be making cutesy, lightweight jokes. This isn't a frat party. This is a serious meeting about serious international problems. Save the backrubs for the lunch break when maybe you can skip off to the spa.

[ProudDad]

22. It's because that prick

has his finger on the big red button and the giant war machine (much depleted but still formidable)

[badgerpup]

13. Would he have treated the German Chancellor in such a disrespectful...

...fashion if the post had been held by a man and not a woman?
He did treat Tony Blair disrespectfully...but that is an ongoing thing.
What he did to Angela Merkel appeared to me to be harassment; i.e. 'putting her in her place' because Bush is the male American pResident and Angela Merkel is merely the female Chancellor of Germany. It had to do with status...both sexually and politically....he had to show that he's got a bigger johnson than she does.

Just MHO...:shrug:

[devinsgram]

23. Done

[Vidar]

24. done

[peekaloo]

25. Ha! Maybe Boo$h needs a visit from the Sexual Harassment Panda.

[City Lights]

26. done.

Frankly, I'm surprised they are even asking this question. I thought the only people aware of it were those in the Internets.

[gristy]

28. What an odd question - wtf do I care?

Seems they skipped over the more obvious one:

Was President Bush's back rub for Chancellor Merkel appropriate?

[Human Torch]

29. It's a classic case of "leading the witness"...

...by asking "are we making too much of this," the underlying statement is "We are making too much of this."

Your question is the one that should have been asked, because that's the real issue here. Public reaction to Bush's actions is not.

:patriot:

[mtnsnake]

30. haha, thanks, MSNBC, for not letting this issue die!

I think this poll is MSNBC's way of fanning the flames on this one. If so, kudo's to them!

[Supersedeas]

33. Earth to Bush...no reply...Earth to Condi...no reply...Earth to Snow...