Shouldn’t Merkel file sexual harassement charges against Bush? The way she reacts it certainly was unwanted touching. There have been plenty of court cases over less.
Sure, sure. Bush supporters will only say he was joking around. Being friendly. But this is a head of state, in public. Nothing shows respect to other countries and their leaders like groping. Bush has got to have a screw lose somewhere to pull this kind of bullshit.
Here’s one writer’s take:
Every woman will recognize the guy who sidles up and starts “casually” giving you a backrub without even looking at you, because he wants to preserve deniability in case you freak out. Like any practiced groper, Bush stares right past Merkel as she recoils from his touch.
The play fails, but he just moves on, eyes averted, like it’s her problem. (“Oh my God, there’s a hysterical woman displaying inappropriate behavior! I’ll just pretend I don’t notice her egregious gaffe.”)
Yes, our president, the drive-by harasser.
And the Idealistic Pragmatist has a discussion on the cultural implications:
Far from showing his great “love” for the chancellor, what this event really illustrates is Bush’s appalling insensitivity to the fact that not everybody else’s culture is just like his own. In Germany, this will be perceived not as a joke, but as a man showing a woman her place. Don’t look so shocked, Mr. President–there are actually places in the world where you don’t get to massage the shoulders of a woman (and a fellow world leader) whom you barely know. After six long years of hobnobbing with the international elite, I’d think you might have figured that out.
DU Exclusive: The real reason this happened is because the Bush pilot voted against Merkel and decided this was his chance to get back at her for winning. Remember, you read that here, first!
In that still frame, he looks kinda like Pat Robertson.
yeah, it is pretty stupid, anyone looked up the definition of grope or harassment?
If that qualifies as a grope then we’ve gone so far down the PC road that there’s no hope for mankind. Was it inappropriate? probably. Groping? um, sorry, but I don’t think so.
I don’t need a dictionary or the PC police to know what “grope” means because I didn’t learn English from Rush Limbaugh. Is the neo solution always name calling (Moonbats) or blowing the PC whistle?
#31 – Mike – Holy crap…you mean Bush did 2000 pound leg extensions?!?!? Wow….that bike riding must really be paying off!
Whoops….I meant leg presses…not leg extensions…. 2000 pound leg extensions WOULD be impressive!
Well, for all you groping groupies out there, the married ones should understand this one, then maybe we can put it to bed. When Laura saw this, I’m sure she took care o’ biness. (kicked his funky @ss).
Meanwhile the Democratic Party is led by the loser who lost to the loser who lost to this loser.
Comment by Frank IBC — 7/19/2006 @ 4:08 am
OK, Frank, I’ll give you credit for that one. A good quip.
The truthyness is that Bush was really sticking a “Kick Me” sign on her back. How many of you people haven’t done the same yourself. You just kind of distract the person and quickly slap it onto their back.
If he had of groped her, don’t you think the German Secret Service detail would have blown Bush to pieces? We know that if it was someone, say Putin, groping Bush, he wouldn’t be enjoying any more vodka. Ever again.
You’re forgetting the Clinton legacy. After teh Kathleen Willey story broke, so-called feminists declared a one-free grope rule. So Bush is in the clear till the next G8 summit. After that, I guess it’s impeachment.
By the way, I messed up earlier. Bush didn’t strangle Putin. It was Alan Greenspan.
Hi peoples,
im from germany and cant understand why he says things like this. Our president (Ms Merkel) sponsored him with 20 million euro the last visit here and a BBQ etc.
We all wish that Clinton HAD grabbed his woman above the shoulders.
Even Democrats talk about Clinton as the serial groper guys.
Bush was just being polite…….in that Texan *howdy* sort of mode.
Yet strangely we have no footage of Clinton ever acting this way. His behaviour was mostly in the minds of the Right WIng. (Then again, they can’t help but think about sex since they are so frustrated.)
#42, Alix, That is why so many right wingers use the “Kick Me “sign as an distraction to grope. Hey, watch ’em. They can be tricky.
I’m from Germany and I think this has nothing to do with sexual harassement. He just grabbed her shoulder. When I look at “Angie” I think of everything but any sexual.
So cool down, the world got other problems than this stupid touching by George
funny. for us germans this “incident” is funny. nothing more nothing less. and for us it has nothing to do with sexual harassment. it shows only (a bit) bad manners.
Hey guys! just lough about it and don’t debate if it was a sexual harassement or not.
I’m from Germany, too. And we are more generous in things like that 😉
Have a nice day and many greetings from Germany….
Another German posting… Would Bush have done the same to a male German chancellor? I don’t think so. He also did it in public, which must have been even more embarrassing to Merkel. I think Bush should apologize, and treat Merkel with due respect from now on. And then this stupid incident should be settled once and for all.
@40 pcmasters: “Our president Ms Merkel” *cough* Our president actually is Mr Koehler.
Hey, fellow Germans. Remember these times:
http://www.dmko.info/putinparty.jpg
German chancellors seem to be good friends to all other Presidents.
Remember Chirac kissing Angie?
Greetings from Germany
from germany: are you kittin? this was nothing but a friendly whatever, i wont believe, that the us is so middleaged – this has nothing nothing to do with a sexual harassement … strange for an european is the debatte about this, better take care of violence, war, poor people and other important things than such a NOTHING for our chancelor (president ist someone else named Köhler)
greetz & take it eassier
such behaviour can be seen over here quite often. however, it will be a gesture between very good friends, in a man-woman context, or between man a sign of appreciation.
however, i suppose, neither fits this footage and, honestly, a public exhibition of such is just purly unprofessional..
i agree the reaction in the states are indeed middle-aged. nobody here would right away dismiss this as sexual advancement. but then again in your country even looking at a woman twice gets you to court. not to speak about all the inter-personal hypercriticism.
if it comes to european mentality this can only be described as a guy displaying bad manners.. and maybe it can be seen as a bush’ish attempt to show a cosmoplitan athmosphere. then again, as usual, i don’t think he was thinking anything..
one edit on my text above:
hypercriticism = hypocrisy,
Well, Bush is an American. I mean, that says it all. Americans are not cultivated like Europeans, they are like Big Kids. Michael Moore, or George Bush, or Brad Pitt, there is no difference. Your nation is simply juvenile. Wait another 2,000 years, maybe than you Americans get a little more civilzed. Sorry Kids.
Hi Folks,
it needs a lot of sick fantasy to blow up Bushs behaviour to a case of sexual harassment, at least for a german european. GWB tried to be buddy with Merkel in a way that might not be appropiate at this level and in front of the world press. He obviously likes her and tried to show it.
This happens a million times a day in the world. Between friends, collegues etc. and hardly nobody outside the US would run to court for that.
Probably, the public in the US is so obsessed with sexuality, because is so widely supressed in your country. Old Europe will never understand why your society thinks that showing any form of bloody violence on TV, even for kids, is ok, while one blank nipple causes an public uproar.
GWB and his right-wing religious gang have damaged the reputation of the US in world. But the reason for that is called Guantamo, Iraq, Kyoto, Oil, etc. and not the redneck manners of your president.
However, you can be sure that the discussion about this case will damage US reputation more than the poorly noticed incident itself.
Another German here.
If someone unexpectly touches you from behind, you can get a slight shock. I’ve had that many times with the typical taps on the back, done by both men and women, and while I do hate it, it’s no big deal.
The uproar over there tells a lot more about the US than about Bush. Abundance of sexual harrassment charges as well as the tendency to sue for large sums.
And don’t get me started on the openly misandrist NOW or US style feminism. We’re talking about a country where basically any woman can destroy a man’s life by false domestic violence or rape accusations as well as restraining orders that are generally issued no matter how frivolous they are (remember the recent incident with David Letterman? How many men can afford the lawyers he’s got?). All that with usually no charges whatsoever for false testimony as well as no help for real victims that either don’t know how to play the system or especially have the wrong gender.
And yet another German:
You might know that Bush is not as popular in Germany as he is those north american states believing in creationism and all that crap, but accusing him of sexual harassment for this insignificant gesture once again makes me laugh about the Victorian way of life that is commonly practiced in the US. I had to laugh almost as hard as that one day when proud American republican voters, utterly ashamed of what Clinton had previously done, were asking me what people in Germany were thinking about the whole issue. They were expecting me to say that we were really deeply ashamed of him as well and that he undermined his authority that way, but the truth was: most people thought of Clinton as a cool guy and were disapproving of the way the American nation dealt with him, in the old-fashioned, prude way.
So please leave us alone with all that sexual harassment mumbo-jumbo, it’s just ridiculous.
I don’t understand what’s all this discussion is about… That was just a negligible gesture and I don’t think, Ms. Merkel felt sexual harassed by this little action. Personally I don’t like George W. Bush but this act of him is really overrated. Aren’t there no other – real important things – to discuss these times?
You Americans are crazy! Sexual harassment? WTF?! He touched her shoulder. Not her breast or anything! Can you get arrested for touching a woman’s shoulder or hand in America? Your country is f*cked up.
Sincerely, a German girl
Everybody knows that Bush is too dumb to make a distinction between BBQ and G8. His behaviour is ridiculous anyway – but so is Mrs Merkel’s. She’s the one coquetishly sexualizing politics to supress substantial discussions. And Bush is only the idiot who thaught this was friendship.