Odd.

I’d kind of thought the ZOMG ELEVENTY EXCLAMATION POINTS OBAMA BOWED TO TEH KING OF TEH MUSLIMS thing would have been replaced by some other bright shiny new objet d’shithead by now — it’s about 11PM Eastern, and this "story" "broke" sometime this morning. The wingnut attention span just isn’t that long, usually, and even by these cretins’ standards this "story" is pretty thin drool. But no, they’re still at it, and are even making it stupider. Impressive, I suppose.

As I discussed chez moi (which means "buttsex," like all other French words) this afternoon, the "evidence" that Obama "bowed" in a sycophantic fashion to Saudi Arabian monarch King Abdullah is kind of shaky. It wasn’t much of a bow, and was certainly not "deep" or even any big deal (go look for yourself, about 50 seconds in). The incident did not occur in a formal setting, so "protocol" is not to the point. And anyway it’s the sort of thing you’d have to be an utter imbecile to even care about in the first place, which explains, of course, why utter imbeciles seem to care about it so goddamn much. A typical response comes from "Mac Ranger," who, I quite sincerely aver, is one of the most exemplary bloggers on the Right, in the sense that he demonstrates that if you must marry your sister, you ought not reproduce:

bowing is a symbol of subservience. Of course I don’t think Obama realized this, just another protocal gaffe from the amature.

Because if there is one thing M. Ranger knows, it’s protocal. When he does high tea, he always first carefully and fastidiously straightens and fluffs the pubic hairs floating around in the china. He’s classy like that. He’s no amature, what what!

But that’s not even the dumbest thing to be said about this… nothing, hard as that may be to believe. Nor is this characteristically greasy little nugget of smarm from Tom Maguire: "Obama bowing to the Saudi king. My goodness. Must be a Muslim thing." Witty, if you’ve left the brain trauma untreated. No, the dumbest thing written so far about Bow-Gate is this, from Commentary inmate Abe Greenwald:

Barack Obama has literally bowed before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Here’s the question: Was this unprecedented embarrassment the result of the Obama team’s inexperience, incompetence, or inclination toward American humility on the world stage?

Here’s the answer: Who cares? Whatever the cause, the fallout will be the same. Among Muslim democrats and human rights advocates, utter dejection that the “leader of the Free World” has offered himself as a “subject” of the Saudi monarch; among Islamists, bliss over America’s seeming prostration before Salafist Islam; among international bad actors, assurance that America poses no threat; and among our allies, depression about the new systemic instability of the most dependable superpower in history.

The comedy here lies in the word "unprecedented." Must we lead Mr. Greenwald on a magical tour down Memory Lane? It appears we must.

bush kiss bush hands

And just for kicks, why, who’s that bowing, why, Dick! Dick Cheney! (Thanks Steve M.) Beyond that, I suspect that Obama’s "I’m not a crazy motherfucker" style will reap more international goodwill than the "start incompetent idiot wars" strategy favored by the American right. Which is not to say that I’m a fan of Obama’s foreign policy, necessarily, because I’m not, altogether. But thank Jesus, Buddha, and the Wizard of Oz that he isn’t loony enough to be approved of by frickin’ Commentary. I mean, damn. (Re: the post title: Abdullah is linked to Bin Laden in that they’re both Saudi. And yes, Abdullah rules a backwards-assed authoritarian state that I dislike, duh.)


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