W needs a beating with a clue stick. Is he drinking again or is he really this obnoxious when he's sober?

I saw it several times. It looks like a grimace, followed by a look of extreme pissed-offness. Seriously, I think the only thing protecting him from an elbow to the balls is his title. That's certainly the only thing that would've stopped me. Maybe.

...I'd be standing on the carpet in front of the Man. This sort of behavior is strongly discouraged even at Wal*Mart.

The really ironic thing is, this is exactly what the right wing bozos were saying about the VRWC-manufactured Clinton scandal du jour back in the day.

and some idiot came up behind you like that. She looked jarred to say the least and then kind of exasperated like, "oh, it's him, but of course...it's only Georgie. OK, whew...

Do you get the feeling that W, and the writers of the LA times piece, are not used to the subtle rejection cues used by most people?

Come to think of it, that shrug was not so subtle.

Can't we send someone else to big important world conferences?

my bad, i thought men and women were equal. i mean, if it was jacques would anyone care? suddenly she's a helpless woman victimized by bush's evil massage? *that's* degrading. i thought she was a world leader.

ugh.

If she were a man, it wouldn't have happened because that's too "gay." The only "acceptable" physical contact between two men is a handshake (or an ass grab in a sports context, which for some reason isn't "gay").

The point that "no would would be upset if she was a man" is patently false. Bush's behavior suggests dominance and humiliation. If he were so rude as to do that to another man (especially a world leader) people (especially the touchee and his subjects) would go apeshit. The real truth inherent in this episide is that for most people "she's a woman, so it doesn't matter."

Finally, thank you Salon for making sure that comment posters have to watch an ad before posting, and for not warning us that anything we type prior to watching said ad is automatically and irretrievably erased. Good show.

This was disrespectful and overly familiar behavior in the most formal of situations. It's very telling. Bush tries very hard to be folksy, but does he commonly try to administer back rubs and the like to male heads of state?

or "I am very comfortable with you".

That is what I perceived Bush's assinine gesture to imply.

Either way, it is inappropriate.

But then again, I know lots of women who, without asking, will do the same thing to a guy. Are the women asses too?

Dogs are also dominant in the shoulder area. As to the last line of your post, no women never do this and they are never asses.

At least you got a compliment from a real flesh and blood feminist today.

Smile, just once for me.

My graduate school advisor did the same thing constantly...to men and women both. In his case I think he was just clueless (he hated dealing with conflict and was worried about sexual harassment issues), although it's hard to imagine a man made it to his 40's without realizing that he was making people very uncomfortable. In my case, I endured it or ducked it for a couple of years before just asking him to stop, and he never did it again.

King George on the other hand seems to be completely aware of the signal he's sending.

I can't think of any woman who does this to a relatively strange man. It would come off as a sexual advance and dealing with mixed signals about sexual interest is really really awkward.

Are these women you're talking about heads of state? And are they doing this in a public forum, to another world leader? Cause if so, yeah, they're asses too.

"Grimaced" is the best word I can come up with to describe Merkel's expression--certainly not a good-touch smile. She should put the handsy SOB on notice.

...just more proof how freakin' clueless this man is.

What an idiot. She should have punched him square in the jaw.

Clinton had more class, more manners, more lots of things than this dumbass. He knew how to put on a show. Bush doesn't even try. Is it 2008 yet?